Description
This was the first of the pink-tinged snowdrops to become more widespread. It flowers dependably well towards the end of September here, though it is not (as I have read) the earliest of the reginae-olgae forms with us. Before you become hypnotised by the idea of a dayglo pink snowdrop, please take a moment to read on.
The shade might charitably be called subtle, it is in fact very slight. It’s been compared to Acis rosea, the pink snowflake, but it lacks the intensity of even that pale species. Pink Panther (yes named for the cartoon animal) has no more than the slightest hint of pink, a hint so slight that unless you have white snowdrops to compare it with, you could easily pass it by, thinking “white”. However in spite of the naysayers, it is not pure white and it does possess a clear hint of pink to it. I have tried to photograph it against a backdrop of normal white forms, to give you and idea, and I think our picture is somewhere between representative and flattering (the latter due to the warm tone of the gravel topping the compost) but it is not misleading.
The intensity of the pink does vary with the age of the flower, some saying it is stronger on emergence, others say it is stronger with age. In a patch it is hard to discern flower age accurately.
We grow it in light shade, humus-rich, but dry the bulbs off in summer, though not a severe “bulb bake”
Originally raised by Joe Sharman
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