Snowdrops

[gaynor49]

I planted my snowdrop bulbs in October, didn't think i'd see any growth yet, but they're already sprouting and the tips are showing, will they survive the frosts or have i lost them? all i can think is that with the mild weather we been having, they must think it's spring already! I'm new to the gardening life, just have a small area to plant in, i didn't know what to do with the surplus plants i had left over until i discovered a great new green website that i thought i'd share with you. It's developed specifically for the UK's vast army of amateur gardeners, me being one of them! We can buy and sell surplus plants and garden equipment with fellow gardeners and if you want you can donate all or some of the proceeds to a charity of your choice, it's better than just disposing of your surplus stock and in a way it's giving something to others and helping deserving causes, i think it's a wonderful idea and have already logged on joined and advertised my surplus plants. The best thing about it is, it uses a postcode system, so i get directed to a fellow gardener in my region. The website address is www.theplantexchange.co.uk if any of you want to have a look and see what you think?

[Monika]

Hello, Gaynor. Your snowdrops will be fine, they can stand frost very well. If you are really worried about them (or perhaps you didn't plant them deeply enough?), cover them up with a bit more soil from somewhere else, or old potting compost.

I am going to give that website a try!

[Geoff]

Mine that have been in for years are showing too, quite normal. Lots of Daffs and Leucojums through too.

[Johnboy]

Hi Gaynor,
Here on the mid-Wales border they are actually if anything rather later than usual. Here they generally begin to appear in the last week of November so about 14 days late. I have literally thousands of them on the plot and they seem to seeds very well. If I get a clump growing where they are unwanted I dig them up and replant them elsewhere but it normally takes a couple of seasons to achieve my goal
becuase they have seeded maybe a couple of seasons before.
I wouldn't worry in the slightest I would just let them get on with it.
We have a -4C and heavy frost this morning and I'm sure they will be fine.
Mine are at least an inch high now.
JB.

[gaynor49]

hi, Thanks that's put my mind at rest a bit, as i said i'm relatively new at the gardening thing, so any tips would be most welcome. I was quite impressed with that website (www.theplantexchange.co.uk), i'm all for recycling at home and this is just the same in a way, but with plants and it's a step nearer to saving our planet for future generations,. Now i know my snowdrops will survive i can tend to the rest of my little plot, i've just purchased off said site 4 small conifers, now all i need to know is what's best for them, do i plant them in the garden or leave them in their pots?

[Monika]

Plant them out or, with the hard frost forecast for the next few days, at least "plant" them in soil somewhere inside their pots, so that the root system doesn't get frozen and then, when it's a bit milder, plant them in their intended permanent spot. Plants in pots are far more in danger of being killed by frost than those in the ground.

[George Gray]

We had a mass of snowdrops in our front garden three years ago but since then nothing has come up for the last two tears. Any idea what might have bumped them off?

[Marge]

I have the opposite in my garden. Without planting any bulbs at all I regularly get a modest crop of snowdrops in the front garden, and have done so for the past few years.

Spooky!