Subtleties in Snowdrops
The recent snow coated the trees like confectioners sugar. Much closer to the ground, the snow of merely an inch crept up the snowdrop’s diminutive stems. If you are not too far flung from the Haverford campus, pay a visit to the bookstore steps at the Campus Center.
This small garden has shown something blooming every month of the year. Right now the tiny bulbs of Galanthus are waking up. Snowdrops, as most people know them are one of the harbingers of spring. They also go by the cute name of Fair-Maids-of-February. We have five kinds growing at the bookstore steps and another naturalized in the lawn behind Woodside Cottage.
Derived from Greek, gala “milk” and anthos “flower”, they are in the Lily family. Mainly from Russia, Europe, Georgia and Ukraine; there are approximately 20 known species, many are threatened in their native range. For the Galanthophiles, (people who are obsessive over this little plant) the number of cultivars are reaching 2000!
Since we really haven’t had a winter in 2012, these little snowdrops may be as much of the white-stuff as we’ll see. No complaints here!
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- snowdrops naturalized behind Woodside Cottage
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- leaves are much more glossy than the others
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- petals and overall size of plant much bigger than G. nivalis
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- look for the double green blotches on the inner ‘tepals’
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- This snow drop has it’s outer petals dipped in green
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- you have to turn this little up to see the double flowers
March 25th, 2012 at 4:36 pm
Hello Mike,
Very nice article and pictures! Especially enjoyed a bit of history on Snowdrops.
We have not seen them in bloom here yet, but I suspect it will not be too much longer (we have had an unusually cold winter here in Oregon). Along with Crocus, they certainly brighten a winter’s day.