Just another garden treasure that is now blooming.
Leucojum aestivum, commonly called summer snowflake or Loddon lily, is a plant species widely cultivated as an ornamental. It is native to most of Europe from Spain and Ireland to Ukraine, with the exception of Scandinavia, Russia, Belarus and the Baltic Republics. (Wikipedia)
I first saw these at a garden show many years ago and, at that time, it took me some time to get my hands on a few bulbs. I planted them directly into the margin of the pond we had at our little condo and they did exceptionally well.
When we moved up the hill to the new place there was no pond, and no intention to install one since they yard was dominated by two absolutely massive hemlock trees that shed and abundance of cones every year. There was too much mess to maintain a functional water feature here.
However, we did put a bird bath in a shady corner of the garden and the amount of water that the birds fling below keeps that patch of ground pretty wet through much of the year. I planted a few bulbs below and they have survived, not as well as they did back in the pond, but they do keep coming back every year and throw out a few pretty giant snowdrop flowers.
A few years ago we had to take the hemlocks down. It cost us a fortune and it broke my heart, but they were dangerous and one was clearly dying. It would have been far more costly had one, or both, come down on the house.
So it now occurs to me, since we built a waterfall-stream-shallow pond feature in the centre of the yard…that perhaps I should pull a few bulbs out once they are finished for the year and see how they might do in a more watery environment compared to a damp and compact clay soil.
(110/365)
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