One sunny January day in 1992, I picked up a few 6 packs of what I thought was ordinary snap dragon Antirrhinums. They were tiny
seedlings that survived a hard ice storm soon afterwards and otherwise, continued to develop as ordinary snappers. But when they
bloomed, they didn't have shut-tight mouths. Instead, their mouths were gaping wide open. I have never seen these on the racks before or
come across them in ref sources. Considering their exceptional cold-hardiness and long blooming spell, I would like to grow these again.
Does anyone know a name and/or source for these strange dragons?

Here is a wider shot and if I remember right, there were also white and yellow ones. Has anyone seen this before? I sure would like to start some from seed next winter.

Wow! Where was I for this blooming????? Wish I'd seen it in person. I'm going to have to start coming over every Saturday a.m. and walking your garden so I don't miss anything. I'll bring my breakfast and enjoy the view...of course, will Nigel and ?????(argh! old age) mind me coming through about 6 a.m.?

I blame all my posting mess-ups on staying up too late to do them. You Gail, can use the 'posting too early in the morning excuse', instead of the age thing that Terry, Larry and I rely on, often..
It's Nigel and *Beau*.
About why you missed seeing the screaming dragons this year, well... just re-read the first line again and blame it on blurry morning eyes.

And yes, you can come every Sat am, or ever. Just bring some of those wonderful Spanish breakfast thingies - not to keep the dogs quiet. They're too yummy to waste on animals that will eat anything offered, in hopes of it being good. And in the event its not, well... you know.

Gail Cooks???? NO WAY !!!!!!!!!!

No way Jose, again.
She buys them from a Mommasita (sp?). The real thing, the real way, the whole enchilada.
Tell where Gail,,, I dunno for sure.

I can't cook, but I sure know where all the good food is because of it! Breakfast burritos, lunch and dinner if you like Mexican food. Little hole in the wall on McCart, south of Alta Mesa. Next to Audria's craft store. Must have it every week or I have pangs. On my way now, thanks for the reminders! Got to build up some strength for hauling a ton of stone/rocks to the backyard today. Anyone bored?

Hi, Maggie! I decided to stop by and the first place I went was to the "What's this" page. I love a good mystery.;-)
Those are just gorgeous! Yep, I must have them, too. I found some that have the same open bloom at Ed Hume Seeds. They weren't as pretty as yours, though, and they were supposed to be only 6-8 inches tall. Yours look to be 10" or a foot? They were called Dwarf Snapdragons, 'Magic Carpet'.
I also found some snaps in the Pinetree Gardens called "Bells Mixture". The description says, "A unique dwarf snapdragon with "butterfly" type blooms. Flowers are much more open than traditional snapdragons so that each bloom stands out apart from the stalk. Eight to ten inch plants are covered with flowers in shades of bronze, pink, purple, red, rose, and white. Great for containers." I wish they had a picture!
I also found 'Liberty' Snapdragons in Shepherd's Garden Seeds catalog that said, "A wealth of strong lateral stems branch from the base, making each plant a virtual candelabra of large, fluted blooms in a complete summer bouquet of velvety crimson red, rich cherry, bronze-orange, rose-pink, pastel pink, lavender, clear yellow, and pure white." Maybe?

Hooray she's cracked the Gaping Dragon case!! Great job Detective Wingnut! Thanks for all your sleuth-surfing and great links. Pinetree is esp neat - I'll add it to our links page. And you are right about mine being 10-12", Eagle Eye!

Linda lives around the Austin area on 200 acres that is under constant threat of becoming one massive garden. This lady does some serious growing ya'll! She also held a rainy plant swap this fall. So glad you've joined us WG!!

Linda, do you have a website? or can Maggie and I just show up in your garden next weekend? Maggie, do you want to share a packet of seeds or do you have the room for an entire packet on your own? Ah-hem.

I wish I had something for you and Maggie to see, Gail, but everything in the garden is gone. Bummer! What few things were still hanging in there I imagine are plant-sicles by now. As I sit here, I'm listening to the sleet hit the tin roof at a pretty good clip and it's not supposed to quit until tomorrow morning. The 8'x20' greenhouse Kenny built for me last spring is naked (we covered it with plastic sheeting and the summer sun sure made short work of that!), so all my tender plants are huddled in the front flowerbed under a bunch of blankets. They're looking a little beat up from me covering and uncovering them with each freeze. Kenny's been saving old windows and other lumber for a while to add on to the greenhouse and cover it in a more permanent fashion. I think my plants agree with me that I hope we get it done soon!
But you and everyone else are welcome to come see my latest "garden accoutrement" ~ a 6' tall lighted peace sign I made out of pvc pipe. Kenny hung it 25' up in a massive old pecan tree. It has 1,000 clear lights on it and that sucker casts a helluva glow! We can sit under it, wave at all the passersby on the county road 150 yards away and pretend that they can see us. I have a big jug of homemade wine that will help our imaginations stretch that far. We'll need it for antifreeze anyway, right?
Yes, I do have a website but there's not much on it yet ~ no digital camera or scanner so no pictures except ones from the soggy swap. The main site is here and you can follow a link near the top to see the pics. Some of the big old pecan trees that we have down near the creek are very visible in them.
Gotta' put some more wood on the fire. Feels like a three dog night tonight. We only have a regular double bed, so it'll be a bit cramped but atleast we'll all be warm!

Oh, Sure Wingnut,now you tell me about the Homemade WINE......After I got rained out at your plant swap!!! The Wine might have taken the edge off???I know it is going to be a two dog nite at our house tonight......Hope to see ya'll soon (Spring)

Yeah, you're right, David ~ should have brought it out before the storm, huh? Might've coerced someone into hanging around and helping us eat all those hamburgers we bought in case any swappers stayed for dinner. We've had patties, buns and pickles coming out our ears for two months now. Kenny scoffed at my suggestion of a molded-hamburger turkey for Thanksgiving (Now THAT'S class!) so we are still looking for creative ways to cook that last box of patties. Wanna' come over for dinner? Maggie? Gail?! ANYBODY?!

Wingnut -- it's probably just my computer being weird but all I got at your site was the gobblety-goop that's put in for commands. (Actually, it was kind of funny to see) So, let me know if it's just me, I'll try again another day. Maggie? David?

Coming up fine for me Gail. Wait til u see her trade page. You won't need Parks seed catalog anymore ;-)
Love your graphics Linda - good job. I've heard of low-fat hamburger-mince made of turkey meat, but turkey-shaped hamburger huh? Got to agree with Kenny on that one! :-0

Gail, I checked and it came up fine for me, too. Try again today and maybe try this one. Are you using Internet Explorer or Netscape Nav? If not, maybe the language that Front Page Express uses (the program I used to make the page) doesn't translate well to other browsers?
Thank you for the compliments on my trade page, Maggie, but it was done mostly for selfish reasons ~ now I don't have to take time out of my trading to answer questions like "Is the Jujube hardy in Zone 5?" or "What does a Unicorn Plant look like?"
And you wouldn't want turkey-shaped hamburger for Thanksgiving? Aw, come on, where's your sense of adventure? ;-)

A friend brings me all sorts of weird prey from his hunting trips. Cooking/eating it is always an adventure, but I'll pass on that one ;-)
What fruit you make the wine from Wingie?