OTHER DRYAD GROUPS
DRYAD GREEN GROUP
We are happy to finally be able to release some seedlings from our green breeding programme.
They will all be named for musical forms, to group them together, but there will only be a few clones selected for naming, as so many seedlings resemble the parents too closely. In other words, it will be a chamber orchestra rather than a philharmonic!
DRYAD CONCERTO
Bred from G.elwesii ‘Eilys Elisabeth Hartley’ x ‘Rosemary Burnham’.
DRYAD CONCERTO more closely takes after her mother, Eilys Elisabeth Hartley, inheriting the beautiful overall shape, similar to a crinoline skirt flaring out from the claw, sometimes likened to an old-fashioned lightbulb. The daughter, though, has a longer apple-green mark covering the apical half of the segment, with a narrow white margin and white spot at the tip. The long claw is shaded pale green.
On a warm day, the outers will open widely to show the prettily marked inner segments, which are almost wholly bright emerald green, paling just before the base, and becoming deeper around the sinus. The narrow white margin reaches inwards towards the midline just above the sinus, forming a ‘waist’, and separating out the different shades of green.
Dryad Concerto grows to about 20cm in flower, with broad leaves arching outwards towards their tips typical of its elwesii lineage.
DRYAD MINUET
DRYAD MINUET is the third of our green seedlings to be named, this one bred from Greenkeeper x Angelina. Flowering at only 10cm high, above gently arching, narrow leaves, the upright stems bear relatively large flowers of heavy substance, the outers deeply cupped and shouldered, and with a strong band of bright apple green hatching across the apical half of the segment. The inner segments have a deep green W over the deep sinus. The flowers are held at the tip of the spathe, giving MINUET an attractive and characteristic posture. This striking little gem will be difficult to miss in your collection, and is small enough for troughs, rock gardens and containers, although equally at home in the open garden.
DRYAD SONATA
DRYAD SONATA, in contrast to her sister, slightly favours her pollen parent, Rosemary Burnham, but is more heavily, and variously, marked with green. Similar in height to Dryad Concerto at 20cm, the leaves are broad, upright, and slightly twisted, with hooded tips.
The flowers are attractively bell-shaped, constricting into the long claw, with the margins of the distal half of the outer segments distinctively rolled upwards, giving the segment an unusual spear shape, or ‘quilled’ appearance.
The outer segment mark covers almost the whole of the surface, except for a prominent white spot at the apex, which is common to most of the seedlings from this cross. The deep apple-green colouring is solid at the shoulder and apex, dissolving into lines following the textured furrows in between.
The inner segments, similar to Dryad Concerto, are almost wholly bright emerald, darker over the sinus, and with a paler ‘waist’ constriction between the two shades.
DRYAD SNOW GROUP
DRYAD BLIZZARD
DRYAD BLIZZARD is the inaugural member of the brand new ‘Dryad Snow’ series of true poculiform snowdrops named for their exceptionally pristine bright white flowers.
The Blizzard lineage started in 2008, when I was generously sent seeds of a poculiform G. elwesii from Canada. When they flowered in 2013, none were poculiform, which was unfortunate but not unexpected. The seedlings were inter-crossed to produce 6 seeds. These F2 seedlings began to flower in 2017 and to my delight, the result was one perfect poculiform.
After 5 years evaluation, this has proved to be a tall and graceful beauty, growing to 30cm under glass, the leaves only half that height at flowering time. The dazzling, large flowers are in perfect proportion at 40mm long including the ovary, and open into an elegant parasol shape. A clump in flower in your garden will make a glorious and breath-taking focal point.
DRYAD YELLOW-GREENS
DRYAD SUNRISE
DRYAD SUNRISE is a distinctive and eye-catching snowdrop to bring movement and light to the spring garden.
The first seedling to be registered from our breeding programme for the green ovary/ yellow mark characteristic, DRYAD SUNRISE was named for the inner segment mark, deep and dark over the sinus, becoming glowing yellow above.
Flowering at 15 cm high under glass, DRYAD SUNRISE has large shapely flowers held on a long pedicel which hangs free of the curved spathe, allowing the flowers to swing with the breeze. The leaves are neat and narrow, semi-upright and short at flowering time, presenting the flowers well.
The tip of the pedicel is yellow where it joins the pea-green ovary. The long outer segments are cupped, ridged and of heavy substance, with a long claw that reveals the markings on the inners. These are washed pale yellow apart from the crisp white margin. At the apex, there is an inverted V, deep olive over the narrow sinus, grading into glowing golden yellow, shading gently towards the base where there are two more diffuse yellow patches. The underside of the inner segments is strong yellow, which adds to the overall glow when lit from behind. The golden colour deepens as the flowers mature.
Bred from South Hayes x Blonde Inge, it is worth noting that it carries genes for both ipoc and yellow characteristics, so may produce some surprising seedlings!
