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Crowded snowdrops in the wild?

FireFire Posts: 19,096
in Problem solving
I have read that plants like snowdrops stop flowering when they multiply and get too cramped in one area. How does this work in the wild? It would seem to not be of any aid to the snowdrop.

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  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    In my garden, if a clump get overcrowded, bulbs get pushed out of the clump,(they lie loose on the surface) and the squirrels carry them off and rebury them, if I don't pick them up and spread them around.
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    Fire said:
    I have read that plants like snowdrops stop flowering when they multiply and get too cramped in one area. How does this work in the wild? It would seem to not be of any aid to the snowdrop.
    I don't know the answer, but once they've totally colonised an area , maybe the effort of producing flowers is a waste?
    Devon.
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    I think perhaps that might be a bit of a old wives tale. Colesbourne and other places have thousands and thousands of them, all flowering their socks off last time we went.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • madpenguinmadpenguin Posts: 2,543
    edited January 2020
    Was wondering if old bulbs die off and decay and the flowers seen are from newer bulbs so there is a succession of sorts so they never really get overcrowded?
    “Every day is ordinary, until it isn't.” - Bernard Cornwell-Death of Kings
  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445
    It's an ongoing cycle of seed and decay. Young plants replace the old


    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Thanks all.
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