Don't give up hope yet. I don't have any direct experience- just planted winter aconite for the first time last fall, and I don't have any snowdrops (will remedy that soon) but spring bulbs are often off schedule their first year. For example, fall 2006 I planted Tete-a-tete daffodils. I thought I had lost them because they're supposed to come up very early and there was no sign of them last spring, while my neighbors' tetes were up and blooming. They eventually did come up and put on an amazing show... in late spring. That said, aconite corms don't have a very long shelf life and they might have expired before being planted. I tried planting snowdrops once before and they didn't come up... probably because I bought them at a box store, but I have heard that they can be hard to establish. But keep an eye out for them- it's way too early to worry.

Ok, I'll try to show a little self control! It all started late 2012 with this post....Intro to a snowdrop obsession (I hope that's a clickable link). I had a few snowdrops already but for some reason that winter something snapped and I began to feel some horrible compulsion to add a few named snowdrops to my garden. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to stomach the $20 or so for a named drop, but apparently I could and have been getting into more and more trouble since. The only bulbs which give me good results are the giant snowdrops (g. elwesii) which you find online or in garden centers in the fall. The bulbs are usually bigger (maybe quarter sized) and are a great value for getting a lot of variety all at once. If you get a bunch from a place like Brent and Becky's there's a good chance you might even get a few fall bloomers sprinkled in which is a nice way to start the season (October). I rarely have good luck with any of the common snowdrops (g. nivalis) types. Even from a reputable source with bulbs that look perfect I have bad results, I think it has something to do with them not getting enough time to root before winter sets in. They may or may not sprout in the spring and then struggle to grow a decent sized bulb for the next season. I think ideally the nivalis types should be planted in July if you're planting dry bulbs, but that's just my opinion, nothing based on real hard facts. I have good results (others not so much) with 'in the green' plants. After planting water them in well (as you would any transplant) and then if it's going to be warm I shade them with a branch or a chair or anything that will keep the direct sun off them. So far so good! Let them sit unbothered during the summer and fall, and I do think it helps a little to give them a little water even during the summer, since the nivalis types seem to prefer heavier, damper soils than the elwessi ones do. Do you mind revealing the ones you did buy? Oh and Far Reaches Farm sells potted drops (probably finished blooming for the year since their season is way ahead of us) and there's a place called The Temple Nursery which also sells in the green (no online option and already sold out for the year I'm sure). Karen- I was debating making the drive to Winterthur but it's over two hours and I don't think there will be much in bloom this year with the way winter is going.... plus some rescheduling would be required so I opted out. So in case it's not obvious, I'm stuck on snowdrops and spend way too much time thinking about them. Good thing my bank account and better half have much more sense than I do otherwise I'd make way too many regrettable decisions and would already be putting together excuses for when the kids want to look at colleges and I have to explain the 'no money' situation.

Well Karen, that depends. I thought snowdrops were extremely easy until this spring, when I discovered quite a few didn't make it through all the rain. In general though, sun to part shade suits most of them. They prefer a heavy soil and love a nice mulch of compost in the fall since they can be heavy feeders. Of the two most common types "giant" snowdrops (G. elwesii) do better in a raised bed or on a slope, and the common snowdrop (G. nivalis) and most of the hybrids don't mind a damper spot. A little shelter from the wind won't hurt either since the weather can get pretty nasty round about when they're in flower. Don't bother buying the common snowdrops (nivalis) from the Holland bulb vendors. Even from the better sellers they are usually dried out and even if they come up the first year, they usually don't make it.

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 :-)