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VOLUME 7, ISSUE 5 | May 2020
Your favorites: our 20 most-borrowed items since 2012
an annual feature by Laura Blumhagen
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What do Miller Library borrowers read? Each spring we look at the most popular items since our borrowing system came online in October 2012, gaining insight into how our collections are used. As in past years, many of your favorite books are locally produced and about topics of special interest here in the Pacific Northwest. We see books on Northwest native plants, plant selection (especially ferns!), gardening techniques, and several books from our Youth Collection. Here are Miller Library borrowers' top picks:

1. Encyclopedia of Northwest native plants...
11. Rain gardens (Dunnett and Clayden)
2. Planting the dry shade garden
12. Restoring the Pacific Northwest
3. The princess and the peas
13. Field guide to the rare plants of Washington
4. The flora of Seattle in 1850
14. Landscaping for wildlife in the Pacific Northwest
5. Trees of Seattle
15. Trees and shrubs of the Pacific Northwest
6. Native plants in the coastal garden
16. Plant propagation (Toogood)
7. Cass Turnbull's guide to pruning
17. Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest
8. Penguin and Pinecone
18. Mossy
9. Encyclopedia of garden ferns
19. Conifers for gardens
10. The botanical garden: v.1 and v. 2
20. The plant lover's guide to ferns

When we reopen, we hope you'll take a tip from your fellow borrowers and check these out. For now, those available electronically through Seattle Public Library, the National Emergency Library, or Google Books are linked in the list above.

Virtual exhibit of student work begins this month
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The Miller Library will host an annual exhibit of student presentations on our website beginning May 8, highlighting the projects of students across the University who are working with plants. 

The digital display will debut on the library website Friday, May 8. Tell your friends and family!

Ask the Plant Answer Line:
Why haven't my snowdrops bloomed?
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I planted some Galanthus 'Flore Pleno' three years ago. For all three years, the foliage comes up, buds form.....and then nothing. The buds swell and begin to color, but they never 'drop,' and will remain on the plants for up to two months without change. They never open, but very gradually become desiccated. They do not turn brown like daffodils with bud blast, and I see no signs of fungal disease. The foliage appears totally healthy. They are planted in a north facing bed, soil is medium-heavy but not waterlogged. I have done research but have found no explanation. Any thoughts are appreciated.

A general article by Christopher Lloyd on snowdrops in The Guardian (2001) makes a brief mention of heat causing bulbs to go blind (i.e., not flower), but this is said in the context of growing them indoors. Lloyd also mentions that Galanthus bulbs "are at their happiest in a clay/humus-rich soil that will be damp in winter and spring and dry during the summer." They do not thrive in soil which is too rich or too acidic.

Another possibility is that you may need to divide them. Seattle's Dunn Gardens has a helpful care sheet for growing snowdrops. Here is an excerpt:

"In the garden snowdrops do best in a partially shaded situation. If you have a very sandy, free-draining soil, amend it with compost. They love damp ground especially in the winter/spring. After the plant has finished flowering, allow the foliage to fully die down on its own. Do NOT cut the foliage off early, nor twist or braid it. Yes it will be ugly, but if planted around later emerging perennials, it won't be so offensive.

"The Narcissus fly is the bane of snowdrops. After flowering, the fly will lay eggs on the foliage. The eggs hatch and the maggots will eat their way down into the bulb, destroying it. We've found that siting this bulb, where it gets afternoon or full shade after flowering, greatly reduces the chances of infestation. There is little in the way of chemical control, and what there is, is nasty.

"To bulk up galanthus, liquid feed after flowering, with a half strength solution of a water-soluble fertilizer, every two weeks, until the foliage has died down completely. If you notice that the clumps are becoming congested (bulbs are starting to push up out of the ground), divide immediately after flowering."

I recommend Naomi Slade's book, The Plant Lover's Guide to Snowdrops (Timber Press, 2014). In it, she describes in great detail the Fibonacci series by which snowdrops multiply: some varieties do this quickly, others slowly, in a mathematically governed sequence. The result of this natural system of propagation is that you will eventually have a dense clump of snowdrops that needs splitting up every few years if the bulbs are to have sufficient resources to produce flowers.
ASK A LIBRARIAN
The Miller Library's Plant Answer Line provides quick answers to gardening questions.
You can reach the reference staff at hortlib@uw.edu, or from our website, www.millerlibrary.org.
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