Woronow's Snowdrop

Wow - I'm just so amazed and touched by the response to my 1500th blip - it more than makes up for the feeling of disappointment I experienced when my four year blip birthday got lost in that strange period of uncertainty after Christmas. It was lovely to see so many familiar friends dropping by, as well as some new names. And I feel overwhelmed by the showering of hearts and stars that raised my humble crocus onto the front page of the Popular images. I would love to get back to everyone individually , but that's probably not going to be possible, particularly as I rather lost track of who had bestowed hearts and stars. But thank you all anyway.

Yesterday was a truly dismal day, with almost perpetual precipitation. I'm still suffering from a really bad head cold, which started with a bout of tonsillitis and has left me with a perennially sore, dry throat and stuffed-up nose. Consequently no photographs were taken. I only went out to deliver and collect Alex, who was working at Orton Pit. The torrential rain managed to soak through his coat, destroying both his phone and iPod. Luckily both were on their last legs anyway and needed replacing.

Today has been the complete opposite - wall to wall blue skies and sunshine. Pete and I escaped for a belated Valentine's Day jaunt, starting with a walk round Burton le Coggles and ending at Easton Walled Gardens, which has a splendid display of snowdrops and other early spring flowers. The only downside was that all the world seemed to have decided to visit too, which meant that we couldn't even get near the tea-room!

We always buy some spring bulbs for Valentine's Day, which included two new species of snowdrop - the Crimean Snowdrop Galanthus plicatus and Woronow's Snowdrop Galanthus woronowii, which I photographed from underneath against the cloudless blue sky. This species is native to Turkey, Russia and Georgia, and was named in honour of the Russian botanist and plant collector Georg Woronow (1874–1931). It is popular in cultivation in Europe, and valued for its wide, green, shiny leaves, which provide good ground-cover and contrast with the leaves of the commonly grown snowdrop G. nivalis. 


Snowdrops (Galanthus spp.) contain an alkaloid, galanthamine, that has been approved for use in the management of Alzheimer’s disease in a number of countries.