Love is Galanthophilia

Love is ............... Galanthophilia!   It's in the air along with the delicate scent of honey as the Galanthus "Brenda Troyle" snowdrop bulbs begin to flower.  When the winter rays break through our dark thick veil of clouds the little pearl drop pendant flowers begin to open. Single green heart shaped markings are then revealed on the inner petals.  Surely Spring can't be that far away now? 

The little pot of snowdrops are a present from my friend J - the plant explorer.  A few weeks ago he was telling me about one of his trips many years ago to the border region of Turkey and Iran to photograph snowdrops and I just happened to say that I would like to start a little collection so maybe this is the start of Galanthophilia for me!  

For now the little pot is sitting on my kitchen window sill where I can enjoy the little winter blooms and delicious scent of honey.  There are 2 snowdrops in the little pot though they didn't cost £357 per bulb that a rare Galanthus plicatus EA Bowles sold for on ebay.  These ones seem to be around £4.50 each plus p+p on the internet though my little pot of Brenda Troyle came from a scottish garden. This year the National Trust is tagging their snowdrops at Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire to prevent them from being snatched and then sold on as it is illegal in the UK to collect them from the wild.

Planting in containers in the soil

Many times I pierce bulbs with my garden trowel or fork by accident so this time I'm going to be alot more careful with the planting.   I have some old aquatic mesh pots in the garage and once the bulbs finish flowering I'm going to replant them in one of these  with John Innes No 3 compost (they are hungry little plants) and then plant the whole container in the soil  in a shady spot under a shrub. The roots from the bulbs will still be able to grow through the mesh in the pot to obtain moisture and lots of nutrients plus it's added protection from my trowel.  Once in the ground J. told me that they will multiply reasonably quickly and will flower when the bulbs are still quite small young.

Poem by Mary Webb

Root Damage

Did you know that the old roots of the little snowdrops are very very sensitive to damage and loss of those roots due to transplanting can affect the flowering in subsequent years.  I have always thought that planting snowdrops in the green was best but over at Galanthus.co.uk they say otherwise and that it takes the bulb a whole year to recover before it starts to grow strongly again.  They suggest lifting them in their dormant stage which is in the UK between June and late September.

Pests and Diseases

Snowdrop bulbs are relatively pest free with deer, rabbits and mice not eating them due to the poisonous alkaloids in the leaves and bulbs which probably explains why we have so many drifts of them in the wild around Perthshire. There is one pest  this year I'm going to be on the look out for and that's the Narcissus fly or Greater Bulb Fly (Merodon equestris).  It looks just like a hover fly and is a bumblebee mimic.  In the spring time the adults can be seen feeding on the nectar of dandelions along with other spring flowers.   Even though this fly is most commonly associated as being a pest with daffodil bulbs it has been discovered that snowdrop bulbs can be affected as well.

{wiki commons  photo 1 and 2}

These photos below from my own garden were taken in May 2011 of the Greater Bulb Fly. (You can read the blog post relating to the Great bulb fly here if you are interested).

As the leaves of the snowdrops are dying down a chemical is released which attracts the flies.  The  little tunnel that has been left in the soil where the green shoot pushed its way earlier to the surface of the soil is where this fly lays its eggs just at the leaf base of the withering leaves.  Once the larvae hatch they burrow into the bulb and start to feed on it over the course of a few months before they leave to pupate in the soil.

How to protect the snowdrop bulbs

The best organic advice I've been given is to rake over the snowdrop bulbs as the leaves are dying down so that the soil fills in around that little tunnel and prevents access to the bulb and to plant them in a shady spot as the snowdrop bulbs in a sunny spot are more susceptible to attack.

 sunrise captured in a little ice drop

So if some of your clumps of snowdrop bulbs are not flowering well or have totally disappeared from a particular area of your garden maybe the snowdrops have been attacked by this fly.

Nature's Calendar 

Hopefully by the end of this week the snowdrops outside in the garden will be flowering.  This year they are about 10-14 days late in flowering compared to last year but this year it has been an exceptional winter.  We said that last year too thinking it couldn't get any worse but it did!. We had a Snow.......... drop visit of another kind this week leaving my husband with about 3 inches to shovel again off the paths and driveway.

snow.........drop (1 hour into the 4 hour blizzard)

Along the Lade

little Galanthus nivalis awaking from their winter slumber 10th Feb 2011

It's a little warmer along by the lade and by Thursday the wild ones were glinting in the winter sunshine.

Elsewhere in the UK

If you live in Scotland you can check out the Scottish Snowdrop Festival 2011 to see where some of the great displays will be in your area and The Great British Gardens website  and The National Trust for other parts of the UK.

 local wild snowdrops growing at the side of the road

Love is.......... 

As I mentioned at the begining of the post - love is in the air and as it's Valentines day I'll leave you with another little heart from my garden.....................

 Cercis canadensis leaf

 

Thanks for taking the time to visit today.

"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

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