SNOWFLAKE

Native to Europe. Easy-to-grow perennial with dark green, strap-shaped leaves and nodding, bell-shaped, white flowers with segments tipped green. Naturalize under deciduous trees, in shrub borders or orchards, or on cool slopes. Plant bulbs in fall, setting them 4in. deep and 3 inches apart. Do not disturb until really crowded; then dig, divide, and replant after foliage dies down. Not eaten by rodents.

summer snowflake

leucojum aestivum

• Zones US, MS, LS, CS; USDA 6-9.
• One of the classic passalong bulbs of the South, shared by gardeners for centuries.
• Often seen in cemeteries and on old home sites.
• Named summer snowflake by gardeners in northern Europe, where it blooms in early summer and has been cultivated since 1594.
• Leaves are 11 feet long; stems grow 1 feet tall, each carrying three to five 1 inches flowers.
• Gravetye Giant is a bit taller and larger flowered than the species; it has as many as nine flowers per stem.

Summer snowflake doesn't need much winter chill to bloom well; it even blooms dependably as far south as central Florida. In the Coastal South, flowers come from late fall through winter; elsewhere, expect bloom in late winter and early spring, with early daffodils.

spring snowflake

leucojum vernum

• Zones US, MS, LS; USDA 6-8.
• Much less common than Leucojum aestivum and less tolerant of mild winters.
• Leaves are 9 inches long.
• In earliest spring, each foot-long stem bears a single large white flower (occasionally two per stem).