Habitat: shady, cool place
Soil: with humus
Height: 15 cm
Flowering: late winter
Width: 10 cm
The snowdrop is always a firm winter favourite. Its time of emergence is always a talking point and a chance to compare geographical and yearly differences. All have hanging white flowers, with green tips and streaks on the petals, so that there are hundreds of varieties, that experts get very excited about. Foliage is anything from bright green to a refined grey-green, and can be broad or narrow.
Galanthus elwesii is quite distinct from the common snowdrop, with its lovely grey-green foliage, the leaves broader and longer, too.|
| Galanthus x allenii is probably a natural hybrid, distinct but quite slow to multiply. It has wide grey-green leaves and single flowers with a simple green V mark. It is strongly scented. | |
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| Galanthus 'Atkinsii' is a large-flowered early snowdrop. | |
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| Galanthus nivalis is the common snowdrop. Its pretty, nodding, white flowers, with green markings on the central part, are always a delight. | |
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| Galanthus nivalis f. pleniflorus is the double-flowered snowdrop. | |
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| Galanthus nivalis 'Viridapice' is a vigorous variety, increasing freely, found in Holland a hundred years ago. It has large flowers with conspicuous green tips. | |
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| Galanthus reginae-olgae is an autumn-flowering species. | |
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| Galanthus 'S Arnott' is a popular and attractive variety, easy to grow. It has large flowers on relatively long stems, with greyish-green leaves. | |
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| Galanthus woronowii is an early-flowering snowdrop, which differs from most of the clan by having broad, bright green (rather than grey-green) leaves. It can form large clumps, which benefit from being split after the flowers have faded. |