Winter Flowers The Snowdrop

The Snowdrop is the flower that brings hope and joy to one and all. To the avid gardener, this flower signifies hope. Hope that the bleak winter months won’t be with us forever, the first hint of better things to come, a shining twinkle of light, shimmering out of the winter gloaming. The bravery displayed by this little flower in one’s drab winter garden, paves the way for the passing of spring.

Many gardeners will enjoy the flowering of the Snowdrop and then proceed to concentrate on its bigger, spring flowering cousins. However, you may not realise that, once these little flowers die out, gathering up the Galanthus bulbs and re-planting them, allows for a much greater yield the following year. Those bulbs on sale in autumn won’t yield to the same extent as those which were gathered the previous year. It’s a cheap, easy way of enabling the species to reproduce, and ensures an increased display of flowers for your garden next time round.

Snowdrops are partial to shady spots but they are incredibly robust, and flower just about anywhere that is fertile. Like beautiful little cannibals they feed off their own dying foliage, so after flowering, should be left alone to recycle for next year’s bloom.

Full Story:

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/lifestyle/outdoors/gardening/gentle-joys-of-shy-snowdrop-1-5287489

Author: Robert Smith