Wednesday, November 12, 2008

And The Last Shall Be First...

Improbably, after a night down to 17 degrees, and a freezingly cold rain all day, the snowdrop Galanthus reginae-olgae is blooming nicely. This fall-blooming snowdrop just popped up in our garden one Thanksgiving, several years ago, growing in a newly planted patch of the common early spring bloomer, Galanthuus elwesii. Much to my surprise (and probably to the surprise of this little bulb of reginae-olgae), it has survived and gotten bigger and better each year. It blooms on almost a naked stem, then the leaves slowly emerge and survive the winter under the snow.
This little snowdrop and I go through the same cat and mouse game every year; I look and look for it to arise every November, finally give up on it and think it died, then walk by one cold, dark day, and there it is, nonchalantly blooming. It must completely send up its stalk from the bare ground and start blooming in about two days... I've always wanted to get a picture of it just coming out of the ground but I suspect you would need a fast camera lens to avoid a blurred picture.

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Comments:
They are lovely flowers - a beautiful combination of crisp green and white.They stand a long time and seem unconcerned by bad weather. A real gem.
Yours has obviously evolved into a fast mover as well!
 
They are such a sturdy little flower, with perfect blooms.
 
Perhaps a video cam? ;-) What a great surprise... and a great way to enter into the Winter season!
 
I love these flowers! I wasn't aware that they would bloom in the fall.
 
Today, this little snowdrop was wide open; it actually has quite a sweet smell.
Don
 
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