Apologies to any who have been worried about my possible demise. A
combination of tonsilitis and the first visit of our first granddaughter -
encumbered by her parents but you can't have everything - has kept me well
and truly occupied recently.
The Lodden Lily still flowers along the Thames Moira, not just in Lodden
but in various quiet backwaters, some protected areas and some not. I saw
it growing close to Lechlade last May and it is thriving with the
fritillaries in Magdalen meadows.
Carol, I suspect that the little bluebell that you have coming out in your
garden is not the true bluebell - hyacinthoides non-scripta, nor its
invasive spanish cousin hyacinthoides hispanica but the delicate little
scilla siberica - the siberian squill - which comes out between the
snowdrops and the daffodils, in my garden at least.
On the cultivation of snowdrops and eranthis. As has already been pointed
out by others there are many species of Galanthus, and a multitude of its
cultivars - many hundreds are recorded. They flower from late autumn to
late spring so when they appear will depend on the cultivar you are
growing, and they vary in height from a couple of inches to almost a foot -
Sam Arnott gets to ten inches in my garden. Both snowdrops and eranthis are
best propagated by moving them "in the green" - that is dividing existing
clumps the moment they finish flowering. The bulbs of snowdrops and the
rhizomes of eranthis are so small that if they are lifted in the dormant
period they dry right out in the time they take to travel in the post from
a supplier and they suffer even more in shops. If you buy them dormant it
is a good idea to soak them for 24 hour before planting but if soil
conditions are not right they won't make it anyway. I still haven't found
the right spot for eranthis here though snowdrops thrive all over the garden.
Sue - you are obviously not the dominant person in your household -
rosemary thrives where the woman wears the breeks. I've grown it
successfully from Glasgow to Essex and here in Ireland and very cold
winters have occasionally damaged it but it survived even the winter of
62-63 in Leeds when the snow started to fall on December 26th and we saw
the first grass through slush on St Patrick's day. It was badly cut back
but it made it. In that garden its was on a steeply sloping south facing
bank of builder's rubble. Here I three varieties, one in a naturally sandy
soil pocket, a more tender one against the south facing front wall of the
house in almost pure sand, and the third, a very delicate pink one given to
me in Italy, on a raised bed along the drive which is made from general
plant debris and gravel sweepings from the drive. In my last garden it was
on heavy clay but we were very close to the sea so it didn't have to deal
with more than the lightest of frosts. In Glasgow I had it in a north
facing raised bed, mostly gravel, where it survived despite rain for - on
one occasion - 112 successive days. Drainage is all.
Please, please, will people cut everything except the bit they are
referring to when answering posts, desist from copying out posts in full
and adding "me too" or "Thank you" and posting that - the place for thanks
is off list unless you are adding to the discussion. I can't get broadband
here and pay for my post by the second, on a snail slow line.
And happy equinox, whenever you want to celebrate it
kathryn
