Almost Spring

Seeing the snowdrops push up through the snow always reminds me of part of a song my mother sang when I was younger, "he thinks the tulips bloom beneath the snow."

Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) are not native, but I love to plant them.  They are harbingers of spring and always bring a sense of hope when they appear.    I've seen snowdrops emerge as early as November, but they usually wait until the cusp of spring.    Deer, skunks, and squirrels leave them alone, so once planted, they will be reliable bloomers year after year.  In fact, like most bulbs, they will multiply, and after a few years, each single bulb becomes a cluster of bulbs.  My mother gave the snowdrops in the photo to me a couple of years ago -she dug up a clump of her snowdrops, split them up, and I replanted them.   The photo was taken two weeks ago in my garden.

Most garden lore insists that bulbs like snowdrops must be planted in the fall, but I've found that they can be planted any time at all.  In fact, it's usually easier to dig them up when they are in bloom, so that you can find them, and split them up then.  For me, spring planting of snow drops works just as well as fall plantings.