Snowdrops Look Better in the Snow

I have taken numerous pics of these beauties and have decided that they look their best in the snow

I've always loved snowdrops—even before I saw them I loved them. I guess what I really loved was the idea of snowdrops.

One of my earliest memories is of my beloved Tato describing the snowdrops that grew in the forest near his home in Czechoslovakia. He would go for a walk in the woods while the snow was on the ground and he would see the snowdrops blooming. A flower blooming in the snow?! That was incredulous to me. I thought he was making it up. After all, he was the world's greatest story teller! It must be a fairy tale. Speaking of fairy tale ...

Snowdrops were prominent in the most recent episode of "Once Upon A Time". This was appropriate since apparently "Snow White" was known as "Snowdrop" in the original Grimm Brothers tale. The show was also timely since the snowdrops in my garden were blooming at the same time as on TV. The TV show "Bones" also showed Bones using a snowdrop as a method of communicating hope to Angela at the lab. She used the language of flowers instead of her cell phone because the bad guy would find her via GPS.

I just picked a snowdrop so that I could examine it more closely. I notice how delicately it dangles from its stem just like an earring from which it gets the "drop" part of its name. The stem is so fine that it looks like it couldn't support the flower let alone survive in the snow. I notice that the flower is made up of three outer petals that flare out and three heart-shaped inner petals that form a tube. The bottom edge of the "heart" is outlined with a green crescent. These characteristics differ in the numerous varieties of snowdrops, e.g. four petals, larger green patches, forward facing, heights. This is the tallest snowdrop that I've ever seen:

Snowdrops in a planter at UBC

I just found out that there is a beer called Snowdrop made by Grimm Brothers (of course) which reminds me of another thing to blog about—beer—not just any beer, but honey wheat ale—one of my favourites.

Snowdrops are hot!

Snowdrops grow so easily in the wild, multiplying like crazy so I hear, but unfortunately I don't have that problem. When it came time to plant my first garden, I eagerly sought out snowdrops and was thrilled to find snowdrop bulbs in the same section as tulips and daffodils. I planted them with great anticipation, waited for what seemed like forever, and nothing came up. I tried again the next year thinking that perhaps I'd planted them too deep or in the wrong place. Still nothing. Then I read somewhere that snowdrops must be planted "in the green"—that is, immediately after flowering, when they still have their leaves. Happily this method worked for me and now my snowdrops return every year, blooming their little hearts out, even though it's pouring down rain and the sun hasn't been seen for days.