Icy inspiration and the joy of Early Spring Flowers
Snowdrop days
Snowdrop days as opposed to the recent ‘snow drop’ days - may still be available near you. They start in January and then run through February. Checkout the National Gardens Scheme (NGS), English Heritage and National Trust websites which are a good place to start for local gardens open to the public. There are other websites where you may also find this information.
Today a friend and I enjoyed a crisp, blue sky day visiting one of our local snowdrop venues at Chirk Castle (National Trust) which has a lovely range of snowdrops. It’s the start of the season and the snowdrops in the woodland were out but not as open as those in the sunny border.
Snowdrop varieties are often sought after by galanthophiles (snowdrop lovers) and there are various national collections found here, Which may be open to the public. E.g. Cambo Estate Gardens, Fife.
My own snowdrops came from my mother’s garden and last year I split them for the first time. They are positioned underneath our beech tree and every year are covered with fallen leaves overwinter. Last week when I looked just the leaves were peeping through so in the next few days I’ll check on their progress.
It’s recommended to split clumps of snowdrops and move them when the leaves are still ‘in the green’, this means after flowering and before leaf die back.
Descriptions of Royal Horticultural Society - RHS recommended award winning varieties of snowdrop can be found here.
A good overview of basic origin information can be found on the National Gardens Scheme website here.
Look at the Alpine Garden Society (AGS) for more detail on varieties, growing and propagating snowdrops with this link.
Early Spring Flowers
Snowdrops give a lovely early display along with hellebores and they herald the spring parade as the season unfolds with narcissi, primroses, crocuses, grape hyacinths and tulips. Not forgetting the early flowering shrubs such as the bright yellow forsythia and cheerful camellias and the cheerful scented wallflowers. The list goes on…. Do you have a favourite early bloom that springs to mind?
