Winter flowers for British gardens: how I grow the Snowdrops Galanthus nivalis and Galanthus elwesii

First day of snow in my garden in Ashford this year, so what better day to talk about the flowers of the snow? The Snowdrops are a group of flowering plants in the genus Galanthus, comprising about 20 species. Galanthus name come from the Greek words "Gala" for milk and from "Anthos" for flower, in reference to the white colour of the flowers. The genus Galanthus is classified in the family Amaryllidaceae and in the tribe Galanthae, together with Acis and Leucojum. The most common snowdrops in cultivation are Galanthus nivalis and Galanthus elwesii. Galanthus nivalis (the name means literally "the milky flower of the snow") has narrow green-gray leaves, about 7-15 cm tall; it is native to a wide area of central, Eastern and southern Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Greece, to name a few) and Western Asia, introduced in the UK during the 16th or 17th century and now naturalised in the country as well as also in Norway, Sweden and North America. Galanthus elwesii is native to Caucasus (the first plants of Galanthus elwesii brought in the UK were collected in Turkey). The grey-green leaves are much broader than Galanthus nivalis and the plant is also bigger. Both species have usually only two leaves, and the flower stem is leafless; the flower is pendulous, bell-shaped, white, with 6 tepals arranged in an outer swhorl, with bigger tepals, and an inner sworl, with smaller tepals, usually showing green markings. Galanthus elwesii blooms usually between January and February, while Galanthus nivalis between January and April. The two species often hybridize and the offspring show intermediate characteristics. These plants are very easy to keep in British gardens: they are hardy in USDA zones 3 to 9 so they can be easily cultivated throughout the UK. They like well drained, moist soils, and grow ideally in partial shade but can take full sun. The bulbs are very easy to find in garden centres and online shops, and need to be bought and planted in autumn, about 5-10 cm deep and 5-10 cm apart. In favourable conditions they multiply rapidly and can make beautiful white flowered carpets in gardens, rockeries and woodlands. Another option is to buy snowdrops in the green, that is plants already potted and sold when they are showing the leaves (and usually also the flowers). Considering that there are not many flowers blooming in winter, and the fact that these two Galanthus species are quite small so they can easily find a space in every garden, I really think that snowdrops deserve a place in every garden. I hope that you enjoyed the video, and if you liked it and you would like to support my YouTube garden channel and have regular updates, it would be great if you would subscribe to my channel by clicking on the button "subscribe". Also, any comments, positive or negative, is very welcome as well as any of your enquiries, to which I will try to respond as soon as possible. Thanks for watching and I hope to see you in my next video.

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