A Passion For Snowdrops: "Galanthomania"

Janet Heter, Senior Gardener - Rock & Waterfall Garden, uncovers some of the masses of Snowdrops (Galanthus spp.) in the Rock & Waterfall Garden.
"I'm always glad to see the snowdrops because you know spring is almost here. They are welcoming little treasures of the woodland garden, and they are a SURE thing (in our climate)."
The Rock & Waterfall Garden has thousands of snowdrops, which bloom in late winter each year. They are a couple weeks behind normal this year with peak bloom expected in the next few weeks.

Here Janet holds together a bunch of the larger species (Galanthus elwesii) so you can get a better idea of their size. The best time to divide the clumps of bulbs is as the blooms fade. By dividing you can increase your masses to create groundcovers like we have here. Be sure to not damage or cut off the foliage when transplanting the bulblets.

Here is a closeup to show the fine detail of the petals. They can be marked with beautiful brush strokes of green or gold. We even have hundreds of double flowering snowdrops but they bloom a bit later than the single varieties.


Galanthus elwesii
The current gardening craze in snowdrops is known as "Galanthomania." There are many species and selections available from specialty resources. Powell Gardens displays large masses of the major species. Most of our snowdrops are Galanthus nivalis -- nivalis means of the snow. Snowdrops weather all the extremes our climate can throw at them and the predicted extreme cold this week will not damage them a bit. They are even squirrel and deer proof! Come out and see the beautiful display of them in the Rock & Waterfall Garden -- proof that spring is on its way.