Snowdrops are an undisputed classic of the winter season. They are loved, anticipated, lauded and, when February comes, they are ubiquitous.
But while a genus like Galanthus may be well-known, there are plantspeople whose focus on the fine print goes beyond understanding the written word and into the molecular structure of the ink itself. The wonderful thing about intellectual enquiry is that it knows no limits and, like the physicists who specialise in quantum mechanics or the astronomers whose career is spent looking for far-distant galaxies, there is always someone like Joe Sharman who will take an obsession with horticultural detail to the next level.
A renowned breeder of snowdrops, Joe operates from Monksilver Nursery in Cambridgeshire, which doubles as his laboratory and lair. He fell in love with gardening at an and a range of other plants. In fact, at the start of his career, snowdrops were incidental.
