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Galanthus nivalis 'Maximus'



21st January 2010


A bit of an oddity, this cultivar is officially extinct and this picture is therefore an illusion.
If I am to be fair (and I don't see any particularly good reason) then I would admit that this is almost certainly not the original cultivar. I have just bought it because I liked the flower. It is larger than G.nivalis, at least in the form I grow, and is taller and later.
Where it was selected, who named it, where did it come from. Perhaps I will never know.
Where did I buy it? Wisley!

5th February 2012


A figure of a plant named G. n. 'Maximus' appears in an article by E. E. Bowles in 1918 (JRHS vol.43, p.28 et seq.) showing a plant that resembles this one however the Lindley Library hold an illustration painted by Bowles showing a plant that is distinctly green tipped on the outer segments.
The cultivar was assumed to be extinct but in 2001 P. Nijssen, a Dutch bulb merchant, offered bulbs bearing this name and I assume that my plant derives from that stock by some route or other.
I have it growing in the garden, but I don't have an opinion.

9th February 2013