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Galanthus 'Backhouse Spectacles'



7th February 2014


An undistinguished member of the 'Atkinsii' group. I have had it since the late 1980's but it languishes in a corner and is a bit uninteresting so I overlook it. When it is good it is perfectly serviceable but it has the tall growth of 'Atkinsii' and the same mechanical triangularity of the flowers without the lush tubby enthusiasm of G. nivalis which makes it a larger, lesser plant.
When you see re-imaginings of mediaeval monks copying manuscripts with goose-feather quills there is a candle-lit opulence about the scene. In reality the smooth vane of a goose quill is split by the slightest touch into sections (trust me, I've handled some geese in my time, tuck them under your arm or they'll shit down your trousers). Those same monks had a pot with a bundle of manky feathers spattered with ink and whatever filth a mediaeval monk was coated in. It wasn't pretty, stylish or opulent.
Neither is 'Backhouse Spectacles'.

19th January 2017




12th January 2021