How my heart lifts to see the first snowdrops and they have appeared on time which was a relief after the extraordinary weather in 2022. I don’t really count the autumn flowerers as they come too early to spark optimism but Donald Sims began to flower at the end of November and is still flowering now. Beautiful and reliable Three Ships is usually out in good time for Christmas and duly appeared in early December followed by Mrs Macnamara. These are my two favourite December snowdrops. Elsewhere in the garden there are as yet few flowers but everywhere shoots are pushing up and promise much pleasure in weeks to come. It is risky to set foot in the flower beds but work must be done to clear the dead foliage while trying to avoid crushing the tender grey green shoots under one’s boots.
Every day I am tempted to tour the garden whatever the weather to welcome old friends as they reappear and to begin the task of putting the large easy to read labels out. The small labels which we leave in the ground all year to identify and protect the clumps of snowdrops seem to move around and are often found quite far from their respective plants.
