The snowdrop season is in full bloom here in Serbia. Yesterday, I went to the Fruska Gora National Park and was simply mesmerised by the endless carpets of snowdrops. In my attempts to capture this sight with my camera, I didn’t succeed much. But I have something to share.
The snowdrops’ flowering season usually lasts about a month. In the wild Galantus nivalis is growing abundantly. These primroses do well only under the crowns of deciduous trees, here hornbeams and beeches – typical deciduous trees in the Balkans. In places where conifers grow, there are no spring bulbs.
Snowdrops can be a beautiful jewelling in our gardens. There are many varieties of snowdrops – with green spots and stripes on the petals, with a yellow pedicel, with double petals, with a long curved peduncle resembling a fishing rod and the name of the variety is ‘Fly fishing’.
When selecting a place in the garden, remember that snowdrops need moist soil during flowering, but during the dormant period in summer, stagnant moisture is harmful to them. It is best to plant snowdrop bulbs in August, but it is also possible to plant them immediately after flowering in spring. Carefully dig out a bunch of plants from the ground, divide into two or three parts and immediately plant in a new place without shaking off the soil from the bulbs. In this case, you will get a new flowering plant the following year.
Another early flowering plant is Hellebore Helleborus. Here in the wild I came across a green Helleborus viridis. The whole plant, including the five-petalled graceful flowers, has a delicate shade of green or, I would even call it, chartreuse colour, which owes its name to the liqueur of the same name. So, bunches of ‘chartreuse’ are scattered all over the forest and so freshly stand out against the background of last year’s faded leaves. Hellebores last for a very long time.
In my garden, I cut them in summer, dried out but proudly towering above the broad leaves. There are many varieties of Hellebore and they come in many colours – yellow, dark maroon, beige, red and white.
Helleborus niger has been growing in my garden for more than twenty years. In fact, its name does not correspond to its colour. The petals are white with a bit of green tint. Because it blooms in December in European countries, it is often called ‘Christmas star’ or ‘winter rose’.
Helleborus is a real garden centrepiece in spring. In colder climates, as soon as snow melts, you can see its evergreen leaves and flower stalks emerging from the ground. Plant them under the crown of trees or shrubs where there is a little shade. After flowering, its large, grey-green leaves remain decorative all season long and work well as a ground cover.
I will mention one more plant because I saw it yesterday together with snowdrops. It’s Scilla bifolia of the Hyacinth family. It is an incredibly fragile, graceful bulbous plant that looks like a star of sky-blue colour. Paired with snowdrops, scilla looks great in the spring forest.
In my Siberian garden Scilla sibirica grows and has been living its life for a long time spreading freely along the garden. How much I love it and every spring I anticipate its appearance here and there in the flowerbeds and under the trees.
I highly recommend wood squill for planting in the lawn. In spring it will shine with blue, purple and even white flowers on a green grass background. And by the time it has flowered, its leaves can be cut off with the grass without harming the plant.
Scilla sibirica in my Siberian garden Scilla bifolia in the wood in Serbia
