Snowdrop season is here, and gardens across the country are opening their gates to passionate galanthophiles. We reveal some of the best displays to see and investigate the stories behind special cultivars
Tucked off a tiny Norfolk lane is a nature reserve known as Snowdrop Acre. Cared for by a local conservation group, this pocket of land’s obscure connection to snowdrop royalty, one Heyrick Greatorex, will be known to only the most ardent galanthophile. But you don’t need to be a galanthophile for the name ‘Greatorex’ to ring a bell.
The term Greatorex doubles, referring to the array of double-flowered snowdrops bred by this gentleman and former corporal, will be familiar to many of us, even if we only dabble in these early spring bulbs. Crossing the common double form of Galanthus nivalis, ‘Flore Pleno’, with G. plicatus, Greatorex created a range of hybrid doubles that were tall, large-flowered and quite the sensation at the time. Many were named after Shakespearean heroines: ‘Lavinia’, ‘Cordelia’, and ‘Jacquenetta’ to name but a few.
After serving in World War I Greatorex lived a reclusive life, which he spent breeding snowdrops from his home, a ramshackle construction on the land now known as Snowdrop Acre. After his death, and his widow’s, the land passed into the local council’s ownership (there had been a long-running dispute between Greatorex and the council over his right to live there). The makeshift house is long gone, but the snowdrops linger and because Greatorex’s former garden was filled with such interesting hybrids, it’s fertile ground for discovering choice seedlings, such as the exquisite virescent snowdrop ‘Greenfinch’, which was found there by fellow Norfolk local and Galanthus expert, Richard Hobbs.
As soon as you start to take any interest in snowdrops – whether it’s starting a collection of connoisseur varieties, or simply looking for a snowdrop garden to visit in February because nothing encourages the belief that winter’s nearly over than admiring a sea of those nodding white flowers – you realise that Britain is rich in snowdrop stories. Across the country you’ll find a network of people and places that have contributed to our snowdrop scene. The bulb that many believe was brought here by the Romans has been transformed into a genus comprising some 2,500 recognised cultivars, although
