Bulbs
( Photo by : Bob Gutowski , Morris Arboretum )
When belated wintertime cabin fever has me in its bitter grip , galanthus cue me that all is not lost . The snowdrop , as it ’s commonly known , is understated and refined , yet that pristine white blossom contrast against the sluggish winter undercoat gives it an eye - drink down allurement . I ’m a plant breeder in Chester County , Pennsylvania . I ’m also an unrepentant plantsman who gardens as a free-enterprise sport . Anything that blooms against the odds has a place in my heart . Galanthus also allows me to say I have something blooming through the wintertime . Galanthus nivalisis the common wood anemone , and I use it for massing on seedy hillside .
But the heavyweight — especially theGalanthus elwesiihybrids — has prominent flower and more variate . Named after Henry John Elwes , a plantsman and hunter who collected them in Turkey , theG. elwesiiwere inclose into commercial craft in England in the 1870s . you could still see Elwes ’s wonderful assembling atColsbourne Park , his estate in the Cotswolds , in fundamental England , where his posterity still live . I would n’t say I ’m taken up , precisely , but my assembling is up to about 90 different cultivar , which makes it easy for me to see the British Galanthus blowout and lunches in recent winter — I had to have 50 before anyone took me seriously . I now have the secondly - largest collection in the United States ( after Hitch Lyman at Temple Nursery , up in New York ’s Finger Lakes region ) .
I practice the real virtuosos along the bound of pathways or as exclamation point at the front of borders , where their differences can be readily appreciated . One of my favorites isG. elwesii‘Robin Hood , ’ a exclusive peak with a little X in the midriff of the inside petals . Some people see it as crossed sabre ; I see it as a buss . ‘ Robin Hood ’ present its flower at an strange angle and its outer petal are foresighted and tapered , so they are very elegant .
I ’m also partial to a double - blossom cultivar forebode ‘ Godfrey Owen , ’ but in truth , picking my favorite is a petty like render to piece out your favourite progeny — you be intimate all your tike .
Learning to realize those differentiate detail — the sinus marking , the angle of the flower , the height of the ovary above the foliation — trains your eye to look at point and nicety , which makes you a unspoilt gardener . Since so few other plant are in bloom when the snowdrop makes its coming into court in late wintertime , you’re able to really concentrate on them . In fact , myGalanthuscollection is the only affair in my garden that I judge . For me , gardening is as much about artistic creation as it is nomenclature or taxonomy , but in the case of galanthus , I exhibit the information because their distinction are so elaborated and subtle . I do this for me , but also for mass who are looking at my garden ; this way , they can find out what they wish .
David L. Culp ’s Plant Pairings for the Giant Snowdrop
( Photo by : David Edwards )
Pink
Cyclamen coumbloom at the same time as galanthus , and so do blench lavenderCrocus tommasinianus , which are particularly great because they cultivate . Also , squirrels do n’t eat the crocus as much as the hybrids . See more oncrocus .
( pic by : Denny Barron )
opprobrious and White
When I need some real drama , I ’ll match upG. elwesiiwith black floweringHelleborus orientalis . It makes for a striking dividing line that looks like it could have been dreamed up by Coco Chanel . See morehellebores .
( picture by : Peter Birch )
jaundiced
Yellow galanthus is a rarity , but you could find yellow in ‘ Spindlestone Surprise , ’ ‘ Wendy ’s Gold , ’ and one I learn , now advert ‘ David L. Culp . ’ employ it with yellowberry holly , or icteric twig dogwood .
Growing SnowdropsPlanting and Storing Flower Bulbs
