On Fri, 9 Jan 2004 05:56:31 -0000, Trevor Appleton wrote:

Snowdrops out in a garden in Driffield, East Yorkshire yesterday.

Do what! The winter has even started yet let alone finished... Don't
expect to see any blooms here until late March or later depending on
the weather.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

On Fri, 9 Jan 2004 05:56:31 -0000, "Trevor Appleton"
trevor@nospamweatherdot4dinternetdocodotuk wrote:

~Snowdrops out in a garden in Driffield, East Yorkshire yesterday. Large
~leaves 'elwisii' perhaps? I'm not a Galanthophile, though would like to be,
~but where on earth do you get the varietes?
~
~Trevor
~East Yorkshire

I noticed last night that one of my Elwesii flowers has dropped and
will no doubt be open today. They are always earlier than G. Nivalis,
but I didn't expect *this* early!

I lost a lot over the summer, it seems, as not all of my labelled
potsful of Galanthus have reappeared. And I did try and keep them damp
over the summer but they really don't like drying out. Still, I've a
fair number of S. Arnott, viridapicis and Woronowii up, as well as a
few Elwesii. and lots of Nivalis.

(I have a lot of terracotta pots with a gritty/humus rich compost, and
a thick layer of grit on the top with my special varieties in.)

You get them wherever you can. I got a lot of "S. Arnott" at Hodsock
Priory (www.snowdrops.co.uk) though as ever for varieties they're
expensive (£3 each). Other places I've got bookmarked as sources (but
haven't as yet used so I can't say yea or nay to their reliability)
are

http://rareplants.co.uk/galanthu/index.htm
http://www.broadleighbulbs.co.uk/
http://www.pottertons.co.uk/

Jacques Amand UK: 020 8420 7110 (fax 020 8954 6784). is also a
reasonable source - I got about 150 G. nivalis in the green for a
tenner last year! I'm having fun watching the clumps I planted appear
at the moment, though some were rather deeper than others and so far
haven't broken through! (I can recommend photographing the planting
locations so you know where they are the following spring!)

I bought another S Arnott while there, as it had a beautiful
Viridapicis in the same pot by accident :-)

They are in Stanmore - though their US concern has full mail order,
this one is staffed wonderfully by the disabled and is for callers
only. Luckily I'm only 15 mins away (when at work). Expect it to take
a while for the phone to get answered.

I'm going to the 18th February Snowdrop day at the RHS in London -
anyone else going?
http://www.rhs.org.uk/rhseventfinder...3.asp?ID=24291

jane the unashamed galanthophile :-)

The message
from Kay Easton contains these words:

In article , Sacha
writes

It's all so relative, isn't it? Someone who has moved from a tiny terrace
or a flat with a window box will think one third of an acre is a large
garden and two acres an estate! ;-)

Most people in this country think of one third of an acre as large!!!!

My garden is one of the largest in the town (I'm not sure there are any
which are larger) and extends the whole length of the adjoining street,
and yet is only one fifth of an acre.

(Cringe) Having moved from 3+ acres to a half acre, I keep hearing
myself telling people "we've only got a small garden".

Janet.

The message
from Kay Easton contains these words:

In article , Sacha
writes

It's all so relative, isn't it? Someone who has moved from a tiny terrace
or a flat with a window box will think one third of an acre is a large
garden and two acres an estate! ;-)

Most people in this country think of one third of an acre as large!!!!

My garden is one of the largest in the town (I'm not sure there are any
which are larger) and extends the whole length of the adjoining street,
and yet is only one fifth of an acre.

(Cringe) Having moved from 3+ acres to a half acre, I keep hearing
myself telling people "we've only got a small garden".

Janet.

Janet Baraclough ..9/1/04 12:32
..uk

The message
from Kay Easton contains these words:
snip
My garden is one of the largest in the town (I'm not sure there are any
which are larger) and extends the whole length of the adjoining street,
and yet is only one fifth of an acre.

(Cringe) Having moved from 3+ acres to a half acre, I keep hearing
myself telling people "we've only got a small garden".

Janet.

I think what you're supposed to say nowadays, Janet is "we've downsized".
;-)
--

Sacha
(remove the 'x' to email me)

Janet Baraclough ..9/1/04 12:32
..uk

The message
from Kay Easton contains these words:
snip
My garden is one of the largest in the town (I'm not sure there are any
which are larger) and extends the whole length of the adjoining street,
and yet is only one fifth of an acre.

(Cringe) Having moved from 3+ acres to a half acre, I keep hearing
myself telling people "we've only got a small garden".

Janet.

I think what you're supposed to say nowadays, Janet is "we've downsized".
;-)
--

Sacha
(remove the 'x' to email me)

in view of this topic thought some of u may be interested in this article

Midwinter spring is the new season

Nature under observation as climate change confuses wildlife

Paul Brown, environment correspondent
Friday January 9, 2004
The Guardian

The first snowdrops were already flowering in mid December in Hampshire and frog spawn was seen in Penzance, Cornwall, on December 19 and in Surrey 10 days later.
Spring 2004 is arriving in what should still be winter and the natural world is confused by the contradictions of climate change.

Yesterday, in an attempt to keep track of the dramatic changes being caused by global warming, the British Association for the Advancement of Science and the Woodland Trust urged as many people as possible to watch for the first signs of spring in the UK.

The request, however, coincided with a blast of wintry weather. Yesterday the Environment Agency issued 37 flood watches and 15 serious flood warnings, nine of them in Wales and six in the south-west.

Nick Collinson, conservation policy adviser to the Woodland Trust, said of the weather and climate changes,

"They are becoming very dramatic and we need to keep track of them to understand what is going on and if possible use the information to help the natural world cope."

He said that in the past 30 years spring in Britain had arrived earlier in the year, on average three weeks earlier. Problems can then arise if the plants grow earlier and birds nest earlier but the insects they feed on breed later; altering the normal balance of nature.

Similarly, a one-degree rise in temperature gives oak a four-day advantage over ash. That might mean woodland oaks squeezing out ash.

The trust's management of ancient woodland would need to accommodate and study these changes to keep a proper balance of tree species, Mr Collinson said.

The science of phenology - the study of plant and animal response to seasonal change - has records dating back to 1736, but the work of observers has never been more important.

There are 13,500 people in Britain recording such events as the arrival of the first bumble bee and other harbingers of spring, such as hazel catkins, nesting rooks and the first song thrush calls.

The idea now is to build up records throughout the country, plotting the reaction of each species to climate change and helping in the calculation of the speed at which spring "advances" north.

"We want to find out the last record as much as the first, and all those in-between, so we can see how things are changing.

"The first battle is to understand what is happening. The more records the better."

One difficulty is that no season is typical, and the contrast between two years can be huge. A 2C difference in average spring temperature between 2001 and 2003, for example, resulted in flowers opening a week earlier, some up to three weeks earlier.

Nature watchers are asked to record various events, some as mundane as when the lawn is first cut.

They are not asked to look for everything, "just one accurate record will help".

Yesterday Roger Tooth, the Guardian's picture editor, photographed unseasonal almond blossom in north London - and also found a live bumble bee.

The bee went down in the records as the earliest in Britain this year, active two months before last year's date of March 10.

To take part in the survey contact: http://www.the-ba.net/nsw

The hot 2003 summer made last year the sunniest ever for England and Scotland, it emerged yesterday. There were 1,776.7 hours of sunshine in England, beating the previous sunniest in 1995 which had 1,729.7 hours.

Dave Liquorice9/1/04 9:31

On Fri, 9 Jan 2004 05:56:31 -0000, Trevor Appleton wrote:

Snowdrops out in a garden in Driffield, East Yorkshire yesterday.

Do what! The winter has even started yet let alone finished... Don't
expect to see any blooms here until late March or later depending on
the weather.

Several of our earlier ones are out now. Sarcococca is in full flow and the
mimosa has masses of buds and a few flowers open.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the 'x' to email me)

"Sacha" wrote
That's my point. I don't know what the average garden size is in this
country but apparently both gardens and houses have been getting
considerably smaller since the last war. Perceptions have changed
accordingly, I imagine.
Sacha

Pffffff !
You want to come over here to Holland - the majority of gardens are postage
stamp size :~(

A 'small;' garden in England seems huge to me :~)
Jenny

"Sacha" wrote in message
.. .
Janet Baraclough ..9/1/04 12:32
.uk

The message
from Kay Easton contains these words:
snip
My garden is one of the largest in the town (I'm not sure there are any
which are larger) and extends the whole length of the adjoining street,
and yet is only one fifth of an acre.

(Cringe) Having moved from 3+ acres to a half acre, I keep hearing
myself telling people "we've only got a small garden".

Janet.

I think what you're supposed to say nowadays, Janet is "we've downsized".
;-)
Sacha

When can we expect new pictures of the garden Janet ????
Jenny

"Sacha" wrote
That's my point. I don't know what the average garden size is in this
country but apparently both gardens and houses have been getting
considerably smaller since the last war. Perceptions have changed
accordingly, I imagine.
Sacha

Pffffff !
You want to come over here to Holland - the majority of gardens are postage
stamp size :~(

A 'small;' garden in England seems huge to me :~)
Jenny

"Sacha" wrote in message
.. .
Janet Baraclough ..9/1/04 12:32
.uk

The message
from Kay Easton contains these words:
snip
My garden is one of the largest in the town (I'm not sure there are any
which are larger) and extends the whole length of the adjoining street,
and yet is only one fifth of an acre.

(Cringe) Having moved from 3+ acres to a half acre, I keep hearing
myself telling people "we've only got a small garden".

Janet.

I think what you're supposed to say nowadays, Janet is "we've downsized".
;-)
Sacha

When can we expect new pictures of the garden Janet ????
Jenny

"Sacha" wrote
That's my point. I don't know what the average garden size is in this
country but apparently both gardens and houses have been getting
considerably smaller since the last war. Perceptions have changed
accordingly, I imagine.
Sacha

Pffffff !
You want to come over here to Holland - the majority of gardens are postage
stamp size :~(

A 'small;' garden in England seems huge to me :~)
Jenny

"Sacha" wrote in message
.. .
Janet Baraclough ..9/1/04 12:32
.uk

The message
from Kay Easton contains these words:
snip
My garden is one of the largest in the town (I'm not sure there are any
which are larger) and extends the whole length of the adjoining street,
and yet is only one fifth of an acre.

(Cringe) Having moved from 3+ acres to a half acre, I keep hearing
myself telling people "we've only got a small garden".

Janet.

I think what you're supposed to say nowadays, Janet is "we've downsized".
;-)
Sacha

When can we expect new pictures of the garden Janet ????
Jenny

"Sacha" wrote
That's my point. I don't know what the average garden size is in this
country but apparently both gardens and houses have been getting
considerably smaller since the last war. Perceptions have changed
accordingly, I imagine.
Sacha

Pffffff !
You want to come over here to Holland - the majority of gardens are postage
stamp size :~(

A 'small;' garden in England seems huge to me :~)
Jenny