Leucojum vernum
| Leucojum vernum | |
| Light: |   |
| Moisture: |  |
| Hardiness: | 5 |
| Soil pH: | 5.6-8.4 |
| Height: | 0.5' |
| Width: | 0.3' |
| Blooms: | Early Spring-Mid Spring |
| Open Woods Forest | |
| Native to: | |
| Shelter | |
| Tea: | Yes |
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Leucojum vernum (common name: spring snowflake)
Propagation: The seed is best sown as soon as it is ripe in a well-drained soil in a cold frame. Stored seed requires 2 - 3 months cold stratification, it should then germinate in 2 - 4 weeks at 10°c[1]. Sow the seed thinly so that the seedlings can be allowed to grow on undisturbed in the pots for their first year of growth. Give them an occasional weak liquid feed to ensure that they do not become nutrient deficient. Pot up the small bulbs when dormant, planting 2 - 3 bulbs in each pot. Grow them on for another 2 - 3 years before planting them out.
Division of offsets in September/October. It is best done as soon as the foliage ripens[2].
Scooping the bulbs.
Cultivation: Easily grown in ordinary garden soil[2][3]. Prefers an open rich moist limy soil[2][4]. Succeeds in shade or semi-shade[3]. If naturalizing in short grass, a light, well-drained soil is essential[5].
The dormant bulbs are fairly hardy and will withstand soil temperatures down to at least -5°c[6].
A very ornamental plant[2]. The flowers have a powerful scent that is likened by some to hawthorns and by others to violets[5].
Members of this genus are rarely if ever troubled by browsing deer or rabbits[7].
A good bee plant[8].
Plants can be naturalized in damp rough grass[9].
Range: C. Europe. Possibly native to Britain where it appears to be wild in 2 sites[10].
Habitat: Damp woods, thickets, hedgebanks and meadows, usually in hilly areas and in calcareous soils[11].
Pollinators: Bees
Soil: Can grow in light, medium, and heavy soils.
Seed Ripens: Mid Summer
Flower Type: Hermaphrodite
Links
References
- ↑ Rice, Graham. Growing from Seed Volume 2. Thompson and Morgan, 1988.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Chittendon, Fred. RHS Dictionary of Plants. Oxford University Press, 1951.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Phillips, Roger and Martyn Rix. Bulbs. Pan Books, 1989.
- ↑ Grey, Charles. Hardy Bulbs. Williams & Norgate, 1938.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Genders, Roy. Scented Flora of the World. Robert Hale, 1994.
- ↑ Matthews, Victoria. The New Plantsman Volume 1. Royal Horticultural Society, 1994.
- ↑ Thomas, Graham. Perennial Garden Plants. J. M. Dent & Sons, 1990.
- ↑ International Bee Research Association. Garden Plants Valuable to Bees. International Bee Research Association, 1981.
- ↑ Huxley, Anthony. The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening. MacMillan Press, 1992.
- ↑ Clapham, Arthur and Tom Tootin, Edmund Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press, 1962.
- ↑ Triska, Jan. Encyclopaedia of Plants. Hamlyn, 1975.