Galanthus - The First Sign That Spring Will Come
The wind may howl (as it's doing as I write this), sleet may fall and ice and snow cover all, but Spring Will Come. The first sign that the season has turned in my USDA zone 7 garden is my patch of snowdrops (Galanthus). They usually start to bloom in January. Their delicate, nodding white flowers extend their promise of Spring no matter what Mother Nature is doing.
These are not showy flowers, but their arrival is most welcome because it means that another growing season has begun. Of the many named and unnamed varieties that exist, I have Galanthus nivalis, the common Snowdrop. There are approximately fourteen species and at least three hundred named cultivars, possibly more; most are unavailable in the U.S., but coveted and grown by galanthophiles in the UK and Europe.
Each of the modest little bulbs puts out a strap-like pair of leaves and a single flower stem about eight inches (20.3 cm) or so in length. Height can vary; G. nivalis 'Sandhill Gate', whose yellow anthers show through the petals, is only three inches (7.62 cm) high. The end of the flower stem splits and the single, white flower (or pale yellow, like the double yellow 'Lady Elphinstone'), about an inch long and a half inch in diameter ((2.54 cm x 1.27 cm), dangles from a short stem that emerges from the split which stands at attention behind the flower.
Each flower has three outer petals and three smaller, inner petals with a rounded, notched shape and a distinctive green design that echoes the petal shape. You have to pick one or get right down next to the flowers to notice the design. I understand that this design varies in different varieties. There is a double form readily available, G. nivalis 'Flore-pleno'. Also readily available is G. elwesii, which now includes the single-marked plants previously called G. caucasicus. It is similar to G. nivalis, but the leaves are wider and the flowers are larger.
My patch has spread slowly over the years, under a stand of Oak (Quercus)and Dogwood (Cornus florida), amongst the warring groundcovers, Pachysandra terminalis and Lamiastrum galeobdolon. I started with a handful of bulbs and now the patch covers a space about three by five feet (1 x 1.52 m). I have never fed or divided these bulbs. Once Spring is truly here, they quietly fade away unnoticed in the general riot of bloom and new growth. I don't think I have ever kept a true record of how long they bloom, but I do know they are still with me at the end of March.
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