RHS Garden Harlow Carr

Plant of the Month: February

Galanthus 'S Arnott' AGM @ Harlow Carr

In February at Harlow Carr you can easily spot snowdrops. Use the map to find the Alpine area and you’ll come across a carpet of these relatively large snowdrops, Galanthus ‘S Arnott’ AGM.

Galanthus

Galanthus is a small genus of about 19 species of bulb commonly found throughout Europe and western Asia in upland woodland and rocky sites. It blooms mainly from late winter to mid-spring, though in their natural habitat they often flower just as the snow is starting to melt.

The genus Galanthus was established by Linnaeus in Systema Naturae, published in 1753. The name Galanthus is derived from the Greek words gala, meaning milk, and anthos, meaning flower, in allusion to the colour of the flowers. The plants are more commonly known as snowdrops, from the German Schneetropfen, and refers to a style of earring popular in the 16th and 17th centuries in Germany. Several English vernacular names pre-date the name snowdrop, including Candlemas bells and fair maids of February, both of which are associated with Candlemas Day, 2 February, which is the peak of the flowering season.

The genus has become popular, with most species and a large number cultivars available in cultivation. Hundreds of garden cultivars have been listed over the years and many have received awards for their horticultural worthiness.

Galanthus'S Arnott' AGM

This snowdrop is vigorous, with narrow, grey-green leaves 7-16cm (3-6in) long.

It has large white flowers, which have an inverted V-shaped green mark at the tip of each inner tepal. They are 2.5-3.5cm (1-1.5in) long, strongly honey-scented and are produced in winter and early spring.

AGM

The RHS Rock Garden Plant Trials Subcommittee awarded Galanthus 'S Arnott' an Award of Garden Merit and described it as follows: Bulbous perennial to 15cm, with narrow, grey-green leaves and solitary, nodding, fragrant white flowers 2.5cm long, the inner segments with a thin V-shaped mark at the tip.

Cultivation

Snowdrops should generally be grown in cool shade in any humus-rich, moist but well-drained soil that does not dry out in summer.

Snowdrops are prone to narcissus bulb fly, which will tunnel into the bulbs and destroy them, and also grey mould (botrytis), which will appear on the leaves but then rot the bulbs. More information on grey mould on snowdrops can be found in the advice section.

Propagation

Seed can be sown as soon as ripe in containers in an open frame, though as Galanthus species readily hybridise the seed may not come true.

Galanthus can easily and quickly be propagated by twin scaling in late summer, or early summer. With this technique a bulb is cut into pairs of scales, each of which produces bulblets. More information on bulb propagation can be found in The Garden, August 1999, Volume 124 Part 8, 'Slicing Through - Making more of bulbs' by David Hide and Alan Toogood.

Galanthus bulbs can be increased by lifting and dividing clumps of existing plants. Unlike many bulbs, clumps of Galanthus species should be lifted in the green, as soon as the leaves begin to die back after flowering. Replant each bulb individually, at the same level as before, in holes sufficiently wide to spread out the roots. More information on dividing snowdrops can be found in the advice section.