They eat your lily bulbs?

Oh yes, Lilies are evidently among the tastiest of garden goodies. Voles love them, and Tulips too (same family). While cleaning up I've noticed some holes in the ground near some Lilies, and my dog was very interested in those spots. I let her root around in one spot, and sure enough she soon had a fat rodent in her mouth! I'm not sure if its age, or my gluttonous acquiring of so many bulbs, but for some reason, I'm not too concerned. I used to get so bent out of shape about things getting eaten by critters, but nowadays I just slough it off. I guess I'd rather raise my blood pressure with yummy food that crap like that, LOL.

Me too!

I don't know if we have voles... I hope not!

That's one good thing about hard soil, burrowing, tunneling rodents aren't too much of a problem. At my previous home the soil was a soft, wonderful, sandy loam, but the moles and voles loved it too- they could practically backstroke in it, LOL.

I can just picture it! ha ha!

We do have mice (probably because of all the bird seed and chicken feed we have around). I find the remains left my our "downstairs" cat, it only eats the heads- ugh!

Ah, I thought I had snowdrops but now that i see the photo of the snowflakes...I have snowflakes, they may be small but they are great bloomers so no complaints =)

I'm such a sucker for nodding, bell shaped blooms, Snowflakes really appeal to me. They put me in mind of Lily of the Valley, that you can actually see.

LUVLY springish blooms I see I'm still crunching around in a snow drift so appreciate these prettiful fleurs. I wonder too what's with your snowdrops lakesidecallas?

They hate me! lol. Maybe they are in too much shade... I see Sue's and JMoth's have sun shining on them...
I hope you warm up soon!

I can relate. Penstemons hate me. Can't grow them no how/no way.

I have a bad habit of putting things in too much shade...it's hard not to, our sun can eat things up quickly here so I always figure better safe than sorry

hahaha, yea sorry Lynn... I mis-spoke... they are snowflakes... I think I slip and go back and forth in calling them different things...

Hi All,

I thought I would resurrect this thread in order to bring folks up to date on the state of growing Snowdrops (Galanthus) specifically in the US. I posted a review of Cornovium Snowdrops in the Green Pages which you might be interested to read (link below). Most US bulb growers think there are only two kinds of Snowdrops, single and double. This is because that's pretty much all that Brent and Becky's or Sheeper's sells. In the UK and in Europe this is prime Snowdrop time and sales are being held all over with literally thousands of different varieties available. They have plants which have yellow markings on white flowers, plants with green outer petals, plants that are much larger than the common nivalis that we have, plants that stand straight upright with extended pedicles and curved spathes that are quite beautiful. Now those kinds of plants are available to gardeners in the US as well.

Here are all the sources I know of:

Far Reaches Farm - online and in person orders. These folks are from Port Townsend Washington and they run probably the best online nursery in America. They sell snowdrop plants in small pots. Orders will probably be available in late Spring. Right now everything is out of stock, but keep checking with them. Plants will likely be available in April and later.
http://www.farreachesfarm.com/...

Carolyn's Shade Gardens - online and in person shopping. She sells out quickly, and has rare and beautiful plants. You have to be on her mailing list and send an email in mid-winter to order bulbs. They will be dug in the Spring (probably April) and sent to you "in the green". They need to be planted right away. She is a collector and has rare varieties available.
http://carolynsshadegardens.co...

Linden Hill Gardens - located in New Jersey online and in person shopping. Jerry Fritz also sells out quickly. He has a limited number of varieties available. Once again ordering is done by sending an email.
http://lindenhillgarden.com/sn...

The Temple Nursery - located in Trumansburg NY, Hitch Lyman is a former professor at Cornell University and probably has the largest variety of Snowdrops available in the U.S. Unfortunately, you can't order online, through email or on the telephone. Here's how you order from him. In late Fall or Early Winter send a check for $4 with a note requesting a catalogue (The Temple Nursery PO Box 591 Trumansburg, NY 14886). The catalogues will be sent in January with a listing of the plants for sale in this particular year. Then you may place your order by mail. Alternatively, if you live in the area, these gardens are usually open through the Garden Conservancy and you can buy plants in person in April. Beautiful, rare, and often expensive plants.

Cornovium Snowdrops - located in Cheshire, UK, Jane and David Rowlinson have taken on the tasks of getting the proper phytosanitary and CITES certificates to be able to send bulbs directly to customers in the U.S. The shipping is more expensive because of the costs of that paperwork, but the bulb prices are very reasonable compared to the other sources in the U.S., and the bulbs are so much larger and more robust than U.S. sources. Orders are taken between January and March and shipped while dormant in the summer. This is the best way to buy and plant bulbs as you lose about a year's worth of growth when buying "in the green." They are currently taking orders, but many of the rarer varieties have started to sell out.
http://www.cornoviumsnowdrops....
Cornovium Snowdrops

If you want to join in on the fun, there is a new Facebook group called Snowdrops in American Gardens. Here's the link:
https://www.facebook.com/group...

Here are a few pictures of Snowdrops that have bloomed this year in Zone 5b

G. S. Arnott - this one you can get at regular bulb sources, but it's very nice. Upright and fragrant.


G. Blewbury Tart



G. Green Brush



G. Comet large and upright this one bloomed in December


Steve

Here's a few more Snowdrop photos. These all have bloomed in February of 2017 in Zone 5b. No other bulbs are up.

G. Green Brush



G. Magnet pushing its way up through the snow




G. Rosemary Burnham from Cornovium (see post above)




G. Spindlestone Surprise


More to come. March is really peak season.

Oh my. I love them all. I have to go look although it seems like I checked one time and found that they won't overwinter here.

Oberon46 said:Oh my. I love them all. I have to go look although it seems like I checked one time and found that they won't overwinter here.

I don't think your Zone (4b) would be a problem. I have a friend who grows Snowdrops successfully in Northern Vermont, Zone 3. My suggestion would be for you to buy a few bulbs of the common Galanthus nivalis from Brent and Becky's or another quality bulb supplier and plant them this fall. I suspect you will find they will do well. With nivalis plant they where it will be wet in the Spring and shady in the summer.

Here's a photo of a cultivar called Trymposter.



Happy growing.

Steve

I did indeed buy from them the Galanthus nivalis. I am not too worried about sun here as our sun is pretty wimpy but will still take care where they are planted. Thanks for the advice and encouragement.

My G. nivalis 'Flore pleno' is doing something odd this year, it's being very slow to finish emerging. They're up over half way with blooms showing amongst the leaves, but the stems aren't lengthening. They seem to have been stunted by the wierd weather. Now they're actually behind, while all the other bulb plants are way ahead. Usually I see them bloom with snow crocus, but most of the snow crocus have come and gone and they're blooming with mid season daffodils and hyacinths.

Just an FYI...the link:

http://lindenhillgarden.com/sn...

seems to require a password for viewing.

Additionally, the facebook group requires a login.

Interesting. I just ran into that with Faraway Flowers. She sells on Facebook but sort of 'by invitation only.' You need to be sort of sponsored then issued an invite to get the notices and to look at the pages. I imagine it does cut down on the possible spammers and such.