A few warm days and suddenly there they are – masses of them – their grey-green spikes pushing through the cold earth. It is extraordinary how one can be looking for favourite ones and see nothing there and then, almost as if a light had been switched on and they come into focus.
Every year it is the same. Will enough of them be in flower for the NGS Snowdrop Festival days with the cold weather holding them back? Then the days warm up and we worry that many will be over and pray for a frost to arrest their growth. And finally everything seems to fall into place and they have arrived, lighting up the wood with brilliant white and clumps and dazzling clusters here and there in the borders.
Now the race is on to place the labels and tidy round each plant to show it to best advantage. And the hunt for the special ones – will they appear or won’t they? And the delight when you see them almost but not quite where you expected. Last year’s acquisitions are of special concern. Can one small (and ridiculously expensive) bulb survive the heat of summer, the rain, the summer growth and weeding operations? Hobby, Yo-Yo and Daphne’s Scissors have come through but where is Josh’s Gift so kindly given by Josh Nelson? We are also waiting for Upcher and St. Pancras and anxiously patrol the garden every day on the lookout for life.
Some old favourites are now looking very good. Wendy’s Gold forms a nice clump even though i have raided it to provide some bulbs to sell at the week-end. Fortuitously a gorgeous dark purple iris reticulata (probably ‘Pixie’) is growing close by making a delicious contrast.
