I know what you mean-
I have been playing with them myself- I have had the best luck with them in beds I just don't baby- or move things about too much.
I have not seen any sign of mine yet- but I do believe they will appear- they are just slower to show in the beds that I have them in. The snow has been gone from one bed for a while- but we have not had warmth nor water enough for them to make a show in that bed. And the other 2 beds have either just recently become free of snow- and still have really frozen ground- or are still under snow.
For me- they are not as early as some things are in other beds-
Give them time- I am sure they will show up.

I wanted to let you know- I saw my galianthus in bloom this weekend in one of my beds- I bet yours will show soon!

Julie -Thanks! What kind of exposure do you have yours in? I do have a few galanthus blooming. Last fall I decided to try G. elwesii - the giant snowdrop - again. The 1st time none came up at all. This time maybe about 1/3 have and they are supper cute. I also have a few left over from earlier plantings of other species.

The real disapointment is the winter aconites - only 2 small clumps blooming after planting 100 bulbs in 2005. I just can't figure out where they'll be happy - except maybe farther south!

I suppose I'll try them in a few other spots and hope one will take - I'm just addicted to anything that blooms super early!

Ted

They are in the south part of the yard- and are shaded in the east by the neighbors HUGE pine tree- and directly in front (south) of them is a lilac- so they don't get sun till the afternoon but they get a solid dose of it!
They are tucked into the front of a bed with Dwarf Mugos- a (native)plum tree- a (native)hazelnut shrub- a long soft needled 4 year old rescued unknown native pine and a rescued arborvitie - that when I planted all of these things in their bed- looked like there was way too much room between them, so I added a tree peony, some siberian iris, and little blue stem....
I tossed fabric over it all and added chips to the top- and just prune and weed out the creeping charlie and the dandilions. I really do not touch the soil- and don't even bother to water any more. I figure I will leave them to battle it out as to who will survive-
I wonder if drainage is the key- even in my mostly sandy black loam- I have a few places that will winter rot daffs and other plants and bulbs in the winter- but will not be moist enough to support ligularia in the summer....
You know - you can always plant squill- mine are coming up blue in the lawn already- and in the beds where I originally planted them...

Thanks for the info Julie - it does seem that the snowdrops want good winter drainage but not too dry in the summer. I wonder also if I have to many perennials competing with them in the summer.

Squill I have plenty of also - and I love it - but I always am trying to get the earliest of the early. I guess I'm just impatient.

Ted

winter aconite or eranthis,take about 5 years from seeds to bloom, that's the way I have had the best luck, it sure is exciting after that long of a wait to see the first yellow heads.I got mine from my mom's yard as seeds, from Denmark and she lives on Erantis street.Hopefully this year I'll have quite a few, they are seeded under a large oaktree, nice leaf mulch, and in a bed that never gets worked other than the weeds.