Besides being an all around great guy John is also a bit of a collector. My pictures don't do justice to the range of flower forms and variations.Being a bit of a nerd I was excited to see 'Green Tear' which for a few weeks held the title of most expensive eBay snowdrop when a single bulb sold for about $500. Sorry, but I didn't get a picture of his other potful which had a dozen or so flowering bulbs in it.John travels up and down the East coast visiting many of the plant shows and this gives an idea of where all the little cyclamen come from! I won't even mention the many snowdrops which were already flowering outside. Early February is crazy early even for the warmer spots around Philadelphia PA, but there they were!What a visit. Maybe once the 9 inches of snow melts here I can see some of my own snowdrops again.

So pretty, Woody! Every fall, I think that I should plant snowdrops and more crocuses out front. I love the way it looks when the lawn is speckled with their flowers, but somehow, I never quite get around to it. Sigh.

pm2 - yeah it's surprising that our snowdrops were further along than yours. We are in the 'lake effect' zone close to Lake Ontario, near the west end of the lake. Some zone maps show that area as 5b or even 6. Our first house was a little west of here and closer to the lake. I had a horse back then that I kept stabled about 5-6 minutes away and further inland on higher ground - i.e. outside the 'lake effect' zone. It was fairly common in late fall for rain to be falling at the house but snow to be falling at the stable! So weather conditions can be a bit odd here at times. Spring can be long and cool though because it takes quite a while for the lake to warm up. Autumn, on the other hand, can be long and mild as it takes the lake a long time to cool down once it has warmed up a bit. 'Cooler by the lake' is a normal part of summer temperature forecasts here and boaters have been known to suffer from hypothermia if they capsize and spend too much time in the water in the summer! So I garden in an odd microclimate :-)

We've had heavy snow cover here for a few weeks as well. Lots of rain and warmer temperatures the last few days and I was looking forward to the snow disappearing... until it did, lol. Ugh, what a brown, dreary landscape out there! At least today the sun is out, even if it's freezing out there, and when it gets a degree or two warmer this afternoon I will venture out to see if there are any snowdrops or maybe even crocus showing. In the meantime, I'm living vicariously through the wonderful photos here. Thanks for sharing! :) Dee