Summer snowflake ‘Gravetye Giant’

* Common name: Summer snowflake ‘Gravetye Giant’

* Botanical name: Leucojum aestivum ‘Gravetye Giant’

* What it is: This little-known April-blooming bulb produces hanging, bell-shaped flowers that are bright white with small green markings. ‘Gravetye Giant’ produces unusually large flowers for the species.

Despite the name, summer snowflakes bloom from mid-April into early May. Deer hardly ever bother them.

* Size: 14 to 16 inches tall, including the flowers. Plant bulbs four to six inches apart.

* Where to use: Like most spring-blooming bulbs, summer snowflakes are best planted in masses or groups in any sunny garden, especially rock gardens. They also naturalize well and so work well in meadows or meadow-like plantings.

* Care: Plant bulbs in October. Plants emerge in early spring, then flower for weeks in mid-spring before going dormant in summer.

Flower stalks can be cut right after the flowers fade, but wait until the leaves yellow or brown before cutting everything to the ground – typically in late spring.

Bulbs can be dug and divided at leaf cutback time if you want to divide and/or move any.

Scatter ground with Bulb-tone, Bulb Booster, or a balanced organic fertilizer early each spring.

* Great partner: Summer snowflakes interplant well with other April-blooming bulbs, such as hyacinths, daffodils, and early tulips. Their white flowers also look good with red- or dark-leafed shrubs, such as ninebark, blue hollies, nandina, Midnight Wine or Fine Wine weigela, or Black Lace elderberry.