Snowdrops (Galanthus) are our harbinger of spring. Some years, I have seen them blooming before the New Year. Not this year. It’s the third of February, and the snowdrops have not yet bloomed. We had deep cold early this winter, and ice drove pretty deep. The frozen soil has kept the snowdrops in stasis longer than usual.
But: Days now have more than ten hours of sunlight, and temperatures have warmed up slightly. The snowdrops are on the move. Out in the yard where most of them are, you dare not walk, lest you break the thousands of emerging sprouts. In the shelter of the rock wall on the south side of the house, there a a couple of clumps that bloom earlier than the others. Those clumps are getting close to bloom. Give us some days in the 40’s and 50’s, with some sun to drive away the frost, and we’ll have some blooms!
We’re looking forward to another season of snowdrop.
West Tisbury snowdrops, early February, 2018.
