Small & Perfectly Formed
What is the fascination of this unassuming little flower? Snowdrop lovers all agree: it’s because they are harbingers of spring. “They are so pure, simple and uplifting,” says George Buchanan, whose collection of 82 species and 4 million snowdrops at Hodsock Priory in Nottinghamshire dates from the 1830s. “They push through in the worst weather,” adds snowdrop breeder Joe Sharman. “There’s something joyful about their determination.”
A self-described ‘mad plantsman’, Joe explains: “When so little else is in flower, I can really focus.” With almost 40 years’ experience, he can spot the minutest difference within his 1,500-strong collection. But there are bigger variations, visible even, their centre petals striped with green, and the double-form, multi-layered f. ‘Flore Pleno’. Medium-sized snowdrops include ‘Hippolyta’, with petals like rabbit’s ears, or green-tipped ‘Viridapice’. Some are cup-shaped (poculiform) such as pure white ‘Gloria’ or creamy-white ‘Crème Anglaise’. Others, such as ‘Boyd’s Double’, have green-marked petals that splay out like feather dusters, while . x ‘Merlin’, bred by James Allen in the 19th century, has green inner segments and pure white outer petals. There are regional variations, too: in the 1870s, Cambridgeshire nurseryman James Sanders discovered Sandersii Group, characteristic of Northumberland, with oval flowers, a yellow ovary and yellow-marked inner petals.
