The First Taste: Galanthus #1

If you are a New Yorker you know how much snow we have contended with these last months and it's reluctance to dissipate, especially in the shadier parts of the garden. Mid-week the temperatures reached the 60's and finally we began to see some ground for the first time since December. People began to come out of their offices and classrooms excited to shed the extra layers and eat their lunches basking in the sun and the premature warm spell. Coworkers and fellow horticultural minds spoke of their first floral sightings for the new year. I had yet to see the first signs myself, and then I spotted this white speck at the base of a fabulous old Cornus mas while excavating another buried staircase. Upon closer inspection I realized I had finally had my first sighting for 2011, in the form of a perfect solitary little Galanthus.
Galanthus are commonly called snowdrops. As I have mentioned before, there are basically two kinds of snowdrops that we see in the northeast landscape this time of year. Both Eurasian species in the Amaryllidaceae family the quick ID characteristic are the green spots on the inner petals of the tiny, pendulous white flowers. This guy having two green markings means he is likely Galanthus elwesii and not his close relative, the one-spotted Galanthus nivalis. Galanthus elwesii is also known for it's more glaucous leaves, meaning they have more of a waxy coating to them. Lastly as you can see in these closer shots the opposite leaves are folded inside the other which can be another ID characteristic as you begin to train your botanical eye. Galathus nivalis is quite similar looking but upon closer inspection you will see those leaves are still slightly glaucous but flatter in nature, without the overlap you see among G. elwesii. So there you go, your horticultural factoid of the day.

Thanks to my dear friend Sarah Carter Roberts as well as the great reference book Bulbs by Roger Phillips and Martyn Rix, copyright Random House, 1989)

it begins

We made it to late winter. The weather gave us a few freak days in the 60's and it did wonders for the psyche and for the garden. At the start of the week I uncovered some small barberry pinned down by the snow and ice. Today I looked underneath the line of rounded shrubs and found these guys. Galanthus are commonly called snowdrops and for good reason. As the last masses of snow finally melt and dissipate these fabulous little late winter bulbs waste no time reminding us that spring is just around the corner. Well, a month and two days but who's counting?!?

In Bloom This Week

This is Hamamelis (vernalis I think), a kind of witchhazel appropriately called vernal or winter witchhazel. The genus Hamamelis belongs to the family Hamamelidaceae, a small group of flowering shrubs found in eastern North America and eastern Asia. I really like the shot above but the shot below is a little more true to the flower color.
Witchhazels typically grow to 6' to 8' tall and 8'-10'+ wide by their maturity. A dense rounded shrub their big leaves provide a nice medium texture to the landscape in summer and gift us with these spidery flowers in fall and winter depending on the species and/or cultivar. The flowers do have that wonderfully unique fragrance but you often have to get right up to the shrub to really get the full scent. As far as the native species, Hamamelis virginiana is the common species and blooms late fall, whereas this vernal species blooms about now, Febraury into March. The flowers are not the most long-lived, or perhaps you miss them because they are hidden under the dried leaves refusing to fall to the ground, but they are still a pleasant reminder that spring is in fact on it's way. The Asian species, Hamamelis mollis, Hamamelis japonica and their various crosses and cultivars I have seen do fine in full sun but I always thought the native species did better with a little woodland shade. For the most part I find these to be amazing durable shrubs, pretty disease and pest resistant, and hardy in USDA Zones 4-8.

Snowdrops are botanically known as Galanthus, a Eurasian genus of bulbs in the Amaryllis family, Amaryllidaceae. The name comes from the Greek gala (milk) and anthos (flower) referring to the 6" tall pendulous white flowers.
Galanthus nivalis, the common snowdop, is a European species hardy in Zones 4-9. Like most spring bulbs they like a humus rich soil with good drainage, and they naturalize pretty easily in the landscape. The flat, blue-green leaves emerge first, only to 4" or less, and the flowers follow. When they get hit with a little shot of sun through the dappled shade the outer petals flare out and expose the inner petals. Around here there are usually two species of Galanthus that you find planted, Galanthus nivalis and Galanthus elwesii. The way to tell them apart is that nivalis has just the one green marking at the end of the inner petals while elwesii has a second, larger green dot as well.

References:
Flora, A Gardener's Encyclopedia (Timber Press, 2003)

Manual of Woody Landscape Plants: Their Identification, Ornamental Characteristics, Culture, Propagation and Uses by Michael A. Dirr (Stipes Publishing, Fifth Edition)