Let It Grow
By Tammy Thornton
Though any mention of snow may cause some of you to groan and hide under your warm fuzzy blankets, the blooming of snowdrop flowers should be a time to go outdoors and celebrate. When these tiny flowers make their appearance, it’s the first hopeful sign of spring. Snowdrops laugh at the cold and can bloom right through the snow. In fact, the Polish name for snowdrops (przebiśniegi) means snow-piercer, for its ability to “pierce” or push through the snow with its hardened leaf tips. Once you see them blooming, you will know that spring is just around the corner. It’s no wonder, then, that some people refer to groups of snowdrops as “a cheer,” “a joy” and “a hope.”
When temperatures are warm, the petals of the snowdrops will open to allow access for early pollinators, but will close again and bow their heads when temperatures are cold. They have built-in “antifreeze” proteins that protect the plant by inhibiting ice crystals from forming. There are also theories that they melt the snow around them by creating their own heat through a process known as thermogenesis, more commonly associated with skunk cabbage.
The botanical name for snowdrops is Galanthus, meaning milky flower. Ants can help spread the seeds of these milky flowers of the snow, but they also grow from bulbs and spread naturally as the bulbs divide and create new bulbs. Snowdrops have medicinal properties since they contain an alkaloid called galanthamine that has been used for the research and treatment of the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. But don’t go feeding snowdrops to Uncle Fred, because snowdrops are poisonous to humans and animals. However, this does make them resistant to deer and other critters in your garden. Like tulips and other spring-blooming bulbs, you can plant snowdrops in the fall. They will thrive in a partial-shade location with well-drained soil. Over time, they will spread, but every few years, you can divide the clumps after blooming to propagate them throughout your garden. They look best in a natural wooded setting.
Snowdrops have been the muse for poets such as T. S. Elliot, D. H. Lawrence, Louise Gluck, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and Alfred, Lord Tennyson among others. But we like this hopeful sonnet by William Wordsworth called “To A Snowdrop”:
Lone Flower, hemmed in with snow and white as they
But hardier far, once more I see thee bend
Thy forehead, as if fearful to offend,
Like an unbidden guest. Though day by day,
Storms, sallying from the mountain-tops, waylay
The rising sun, and on the plains descend;
Yet art thou welcome, welcome as a friend
Whose zeal outruns his promise! Blue-eyed May
Shall soon behold this border thickly set
With bright jonquils, their odours lavishing
On the soft west-wind and his frolic peers;
Nor will I then thy modest grace forget,
Chaste Snowdrop, venturous harbinger of Spring,
And pensive monitor of fleeting years!
As you wait for spring to arrive, look for signs of cheer, joy and hope in the tiny but mighty snowdrop.
Tammy Thornton lives with her husband, children, and crazy pets while enjoying a life of gardening, cooking, and going to the beach.
