Despite endless rain followed by bitter cold and freezing ground the snowdrops keep appearing and Oh they are so good to see! The very earliest, Donald Sims, Mrs Macnamara and Three Ships, are over. But now we are seeing more and more of the most ravishing varieties. Fieldgate Prelude is a beautiful snowdrop which has multiplied beautifully in the eight years since we bought a single bulb. It is prettily marked inside and makes a wonderful show now. Freda Cox says that it is December flowering but here it does not flower until January a little later than its parent, Mrs Macnamara. Lapwing is another beautiful and robust snowdrop which does very well here in a warm bed in front of the house. I love the markings on the inner segments which curl tightly round the apex. The flowers hang demurely but the markings are still visible without the need to get on hands and knees.
Another gem which was much admired by the first group of the year was Longstowe. This is remarkable more for its beautiful grey leaves which are pointed at the tip than for the flowers which are nice but not special. It makes a wonderful large clump now in the little walled garden.
The white and green of the snowdrops needs lighting up here and there with a blitz of colour and even as early as now the very early daffodil, Narcissus Rijnvelds Early Sensation, does just that. I love its zing of acid yellow lighting up the garden with little splashes of colour. It does not multiply prolifically but every year small clumps appear, small shafts of sunshine in the cold bleakness of January.
Aconites too give a spangle of yellow among the snowdrops. They do not like us much here, why I do not know. Over the years I must have planted hundreds but we still only find a dozen or so and they never proliferate as I have seen in so many friends’ gardens or the incredible display at Welford Park. But still one should be grateful to have even a few.
