Renishaw’s Bluebells, May 2016
And for the sake of colour symmetry I’ll throw in an unnamed ceanothus and guess that the second shrub is Rhododendron ‘Blue Tit’ because I purchased it on that basis.
Keukenhof Gardens, Part 2 (Orchids)
Galanthus elwesii ‘Mrs McNamara’: a stately flower
Photographing snowdrops
Galanthus plicatus ‘Golden Fleece’ – an eBay record?
Addendum: 6.00pm Thursday (UK time) the price has risen to over £200. I have just discovered the bulb went for £1390 in February 2015 so I guess that record is not on. Still, the price will be high.
And Stop Press: £442. I wonder if the bulb’s fate is to be sliced into bits in May and dunked in vermiculite?
Galanthus "Godfrey Owen" and Raindrops
Buying Snowdrops on eBay
On another tack, here’s a small pot of two specimens planted last year and featured here in full colour. “Trymming” and “Percy Picton” are in bud. One is burgeoning, the other promising a solitary if beautiful flower. One cost two and half times the other. Guess which one is parsimonious, which profuse? You’ve guessed it. Sod’s law. The little solitary fellow on the bottom right is “Trymming”.
I believe I mentioned yesterday that it is a wet winter. “Godfrey Owen” got soaked poor fellow. I have a pot full of bloom. Expensive (still) but a fertile fellow and very attractive.
Winter colour in the rain: Viburnum × bodnantense ‘Dawn’ & Hamamelis Intermedia ‘Diane’
And on the subject of winter blossom, I confess I have been previously underwhelmed by my expensive witch hazel, Hamamelis Intermedia ‘Diane’ . All change as the red blossom penetrates the gloom. Even my next door neighbour’s attention! She told me this morning it was a pleasure to open her bedroom curtains and see the red and pink flowers in our garden. If she got up close she would of course see the real beauty and even detect the subtle scent that is a boon on wet winter days. Did I mention the rain? Dawn and Diane. Enticing beauties.