Each Little World

Snowdrops mostly alone

When you garden in a climate where winter lasts for months, you fall in love with early spring bloomers. So I didn't think twice about buying these Muscari. But nothing is earlier than Galanthus or snowdrops. I've been keeping track of when snowdrops bloom in my garden since I planted my first one in 2005. They've appeared in February four times, but most years come in mid-March. Only once did they hold off until early April.

I love these little beauties and have slowly been adding them to my garden. I belong to a FB group, "Snowdrops in American Gardens", whose members live all over the country. For weeks they've been posting photos of their snowdrops; many accompanied by Winter Aconites, Crocus, Cyclamen and even Hellebores. Mine more typically share the stage with snow, ice or hail.

After spending time on the snowdrop FB page, I've started thinking I should plant other early bloomers close to my snowdrops so I can enjoy similar scenes. Then I realized I do have Hellebores with my snowdrops. If you look closely you can see the one in the photo below is just starting to push up. I took a series of photos last year so I could quickly identify my various snowdrops this year. But what this really shows is the fact that there are no other visible flowers in this view.

The best combo I've managed so far has been purely accidental; Galanthus 'Magnet' with Heucherella 'Hopscotch' foliage that still looks decent after being buried under snow all winter. 

I planted a few snowdrops amongst Luzula sylvatica 'Solar Flare' thinking that would give me as good a grouping as I'm likely to get.

I went scrolling through my photos to see when my other early bloomers really appear. 

• Snowdrops: typically March f17
• Crocus tommasinianus, Hepatica, Iris reticulata: 2nd week In April
• Hellebore buds are up by mid-April but no significant flowers until the end of April (though I did see some buds pushing up over the weekend)

The good news is it's not my imagination that my snowdrops have no floral companions. The bad news is that my garden's reality trumps this gardener's wishes.

Wordy Wednesday

Epimedium rubrum is the first of dozens of Epimediums I've purchased. I probably bought it in the early 1990s which explains why I have two large sweeps of it along both sides of my driveway.

Last year I dug out a big clump in the back garden when I decided to redo a bed. I've you've ever tried to dig out an established Epimedium you may already know that it is not an easy job. 

The plant was big, healthy and blooming its head off, meaning there was strong growth underground. When I dug down I kept finding a web of old rhizomatous systems that were rock hard and prickly. 

I removed them in big horizontal chunks. They were such a surprise to me that I had to take a picture — or two. Epimedium rubrum and E. 'Lilac Fairy' are my only two plants that spread out rather than staying as a clump

I've divided and moved 'Lilac Fairy' often enough that its never developed an underground structure like this. I've no idea if this is typical for Epimediums or if it takes 20 years to get to this stage.