Galanthus nivalis These remarks started the so-called Pusztai affair. The common double snowdrop, "Galanthus nivalis" f. "pleniflorus" 'Flore Pleno', had appeared by 1703, when it was illustrated in "The Duchess of Beaufort's Book". It spread (and was spread) rapidly through northern Europe (by vegetative means, as it sets no seed). With 3–5 outer segments and 12–21 inner segments, which are often misshapen, the flowers may be less attractive to the eye of the purist than single-flowered or neater double cultivars, but they are good value in the garden as the bulbs spread rapidly and the large flowers show up well. There are
Flower garden should always be in bloom. The best mixtures even include combinations of perennial and biennials, which may not bloom until the following year, and also annuals that are "self-seeding", so they will return, creating a permanent flowerbed. Another, even more recent trend is the "flower garden in a box", where the entire design of a flower garden is pre-packaged, with separate packets of each kind of flower, and a careful layout to be followed to create the proposed pattern of color in the garden-to-be. Many, if not most, plants considered decorative flowers originated as weeds, which if attractive enough would