Galanthomania in the US
Jane McGary (Sat, 25 Feb 2012 11:47:56 PST)

Jim Waddick asked about Galanthus fancy in the USA. There has been an
interest in these plants in the Pacific Northwest (US and Canada) for
some years, and I know of at least half a dozen burgeoning
collections. I'm mostly interested in growing species bulbs, so I
haven't acquired many cultivars except for hunting out those
described as "vigorous increasers," which make such a pretty picture
in the garden in January and February.

To answer Jim's questionnaire:

I think this is a niche that appeals to "completists" who have a
psychological urge to acquire as many of one category of objects as
possible. I understand this, because I have an obsession with
Fritillaria and, to a lesser extent, Crocus. (Crocus is coming back
at me now that I have a rodent-proof place to grow them.) It is
pretty easy to grow hundreds of snowdrop varieties in a garden of
modest size, like one I visited a couple of weeks ago in Portland. It
is not so easy to accommodate a collection of Arts & Crafts Movement
jardinieres, I can tell you.

I have bought $20 ones from Temple Nursery, but I'd never buy a $50
one, not even G. platyphyllus.

No. Just a geophytophile.

I think it will be a fading enthusiasn for some people who are drawn
to it by the Anglophilia prevalent among American gardeners, but an
obscure yet lasting hobby for a few.

About $25, for a true species.

Jane McGary
Portland, Oregon, USA