{"id":2344,"date":"2018-02-19T11:20:24","date_gmt":"2018-02-19T19:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/?p=2344"},"modified":"2018-02-19T11:23:09","modified_gmt":"2018-02-19T19:23:09","slug":"spring-is-afoot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/spring-is-afoot\/","title":{"rendered":"Spring is Afoot"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Hope<\/a>
Hope comes wrapped in the petals of the first snowdrop<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yesterday I was absolutely beside myself because I saw the first snowdrops of the season.\u00a0 These brave early-appearers are double-flowered, with pale green tips on the outer petals and pronounced green blotches on the inner ones.\u00a0 I have forgotten their varietal name and the plant tag is currently submerged under a cover of dead leaves, but I know that I ordered the plants from Hitch Lyman at the Temple Nursery in the vast metropolis of Trumansburg, New York.\u00a0 Whatever the varietal name, they should be called \u201cTrumpet\u201d or \u201cHope of Spring\u201d or even \u201cSpring is Afoot\u201d.<\/p>\n

The winter weather has been on-and-off this year, so I have been expecting snowdrops since about January 15.\u00a0 Usually my first specimens are the common single-flowered type, Galanthus nivalis.\u00a0 This year, their tips have broken through the earth, but they are far from ready to display their charms to the public.\u00a0 The flashier doubles have much more heavy lifting to do because of their increased petal count, but they have beaten the nivalis snowdrops to the punch.\u00a0 I suspect that the doubles get a bit more warmth in their quiet corner of the lower back garden.<\/p>\n

Snowdrops may be small, but their reputation grows every day.\u00a0 They have long had distinguished admirers, among them the suave and accomplished Edward Augustus Bowles, Victorian\/Edwardian gardener, garden writer and artist par excellence.\u00a0 A great uncle by marriage to the current Duchess of Cornwall, Bowles was a rich man with a fantastic garden.\u00a0 His book My Garden in Autumn and Winter<\/em> is still a classic among lovers of great garden literature.\u00a0 In its pages, Bowles makes snowdrop lovers drool with envy by describing the first snowdrops\u2019 appearance in October, the continued show by various species in November and December, and the triumphant appearance of Galanthus nivalis later on.\u00a0 For Bowles, the nivalis snowdrops \u201ccome with a rush in February for Candlemas Day\u201d, which happens on February second.\u00a0 For this reason, some traditional English gardeners called the little flowers, \u201cCandlemas bells.\u201d\u00a0 In the United States, we just don\u2019t have the same poetry in our souls, but this may also have saved snowdrops from being christened \u201cGroundhog\u2019s Day bells\u201d.<\/p>\n

Across the pond from Bowles and separated by a generation, twentieth century southern gardener Elizabeth Lawrence also wrote about snowdrops.\u00a0 In her lovely book, The Little Bulbs, A Tale of Two Gardens<\/em>, she writes with the enthusiasm of a true galanthophile, saying, \u201cI, of course, would like to grow every snowdrop I ever heard of.\u201d\u00a0 She speaks wistfully of a friend and snowdrop collector who manages to have five months of snowdrop bloom\u2014something she cannot do in her North Carolina garden.\u00a0 Lawrence also quotes eighteenth century poet Anna Barbauld, who wrote perhaps the loveliest description of snowdrops, calling them, \u201cthe first pale blossoms of the unripened year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Armed with all that inspiration, you are probably dying to grow snowdrops.\u00a0 Depending on the species and variety, they can be completely unfussy, or terribly temperamental.\u00a0 My advice is to start with Galanthus nivalis, the most common type and, in my experience, the least diva-ish.\u00a0 If you know someone who already has snowdrops in his or her garden, ask for a small clump \u201cin the green\u201d–lifted right after the flowers fade.\u00a0 Dividing and planting clumps in the early spring is the best way to establish them.\u00a0 You can also order fall-planted bulbs from the same vendors who sell daffodils and tulips.\u00a0 Those bulbs may succeed as well, but can take a year or two to bloom.<\/p>\n

Snowdrops can thrive in a variety of soils, but prefer shady woodland situations.\u00a0 They are partial to leaf mold, but dislike mulch.\u00a0 After the flowers fade, the foliage lingers for a bit until disappearing completely for the summer.\u00a0 Make sure to make the spots where you have planted the clumps or bulbs so you don\u2019t disturb their slumbers.<\/p>\n

Sometimes you can obtain \u2018S. Arnott\u2019, a larger and showier single snowdrop that smells even sweeter than its nivalis cousins.\u00a0 In my garden \u2018S. Arnott\u2019 increases almost as efficiently as the common snowdrops and is visible from farther away.<\/p>\n

If the winter weather has abated where you live\u2014even temporarily\u2014go in search of snowdrops.\u00a0 Even if the groundhog has called for a few more weeks of winter, the little white bells will give you hope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I was absolutely beside myself because I saw the first snowdrops of the season.\u00a0 These brave early-appearers are double-flowered, with pale green tips on the outer petals and pronounced green blotches on the inner ones.\u00a0 I have forgotten their varietal name and the plant tag is currently submerged under a cover of dead leaves, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,2,5],"tags":[1817,1818,1819,371,1119,590,347,370,477,1763],"class_list":["post-2344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-winter","tag-candlemas-bells","tag-e-a-bowles","tag-elizabeth-lawrence","tag-galanthus","tag-nivalis","tag-rock-garden-plants","tag-shade-loving-plants","tag-snowdrops","tag-spring-bulbs","tag-spring-ephemerals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2344"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2348,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2344\/revisions\/2348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}