Antoine Hoog wrote: I see no reason to discuss the silvery-white central stripe on the leaves of ssp. vernalis when this feature is present to the same extent in ssp. reginae-olgae. This is absolutely true, but the interest in the grey stripe is that its presence separates Galanthus reginae-olgae from G. nivalis. We do not really know enough about the interface between the two taxa in the Balkans - I would love to be able tro go about and explore the early snowdrops to try to clarify in my mind at least how these things differ. In my own garden today Galanthus plicatus 'Three Ships' and G. elwesii 'Potter's Prelude' are flowering nicely. John Grimshaw Dr John M. Grimshaw Sycamore Cottage Colesbourne Nr Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL53 9NP COLESBOURNE PARK SNOWDROP OPEN DAYS 2008 January 26/27 and every Saturday & Sunday in February Gates open 1pm, last entry 4 pm website: http://www.colesbournegardens.org.uk/