Snowdrops at Goldsborough Hall
When I started to write this blog, it amazed me just how fascinated I am with snowdrops year on year. Is it the draw of the different varieties, the desire to purchase just one more type… or the endless scouring catalogues and bulb swapping every year!
There have been snowdrops at Goldsborough Hall for hundreds of years but when we arrived at the Hall in 2005, they were hidden under the fallen trees, nettles & brambles. Having have cleared the woodland, we were stunned by the thousands that emerged. This spectacular display of ‘white magic’ is made up of Galanthus nivalis, the single snowdrop and the double ‘flore pleno’ making it one of the top spots to see snowdrops.
The Hall opens its North Yorkshire gardens throughout most of February so that visitors can enjoy the snowdrops - as well as dates throughout the year to see the rest of the gardens. Check our what’s on section for when we are next open.
A stag guards the entrance to the Woodland Walk
The Snowdrop Walk
Back in 2011, Mike Heagney of Tudor Croft Gardens in Guisborough suggested I plant a Snowdrop Walk, a selection of rare and interesting snowdrops in a section of newly cleared woodland. As of 2023, I now have over 120 different varieties… An addiction indeed!
Two of these have excellent Yorkshire connections – Galanthus ‘James Backhouse’ comes from the Backhouse Nurseries in York from 1875 and Galanthus ‘Mrs Thompson’ was discovered in the 1950s by a Mrs Thompson in a backgarden in Escrick.
Other single varieties in the Snowdrop Walk include G Sophie North, found in a garden in Dunblane and named after a little girl who was tragically caught up in the dreadful massacre in Scotland. And the late-flowering Washfield Warham which originates from a Kent nursery near Hawkshurst.
Snowdrops in the dappled shade under a tree
Galanthus Wendy’s Gold
Double varieties of snowdrops include Blewbury Tart from Blewbury in Oxfordshire in 1975 and Jacquenetta, one of a range of double snowdrops raised in the 1940s by HA Greatorex of Norwich. Some of the snowdrops are very rare including Peg Sharples while another is from a galanthophile friend, originally named Roadside Weed from where it was found. Additions to the Walk come from swops as well as purchases from the likes of Beth Chatto, Avon Bulbs, Morlas Plants, Harveys Garden Plants, Edrom Nurseries and Gee Tee Bulbs.
A Favourite?
I’m often asked which is my favourite? A tough one – a bit like deciding between your children! Each one has its own merits but if pushed there are one or two that I favour over the others.
I’m a sucker for the yellow ones and love both Wendy’s Gold and Primrose Warburg for their outstanding bright colour. Polar Bear was an expensive purchase back in 2018 but with more than 15 flowers now, it has surely become a great investment! This late variety is famously big, rounded and white, with generous olive markings on its inner segments. Finally Galanthus Mrs Thompson – a highly impressive snowdrop not just for its large flowers and height but the fact that it looks so spectacular so early on!
Fields of white magic - snowdrops in the Hall’s gardens
Let’s talk snowdrops
Where’s the word from? Its botanical name is Galanthus deriving from the Greek words for milk (gala) and flower (anthos), while nivalis is the Latin for snowy. Common names include Fair Maid of February, Bulbous Violet, Maids of February, Mary’s Tapers or Candlemas Bells.
Galanthus - A love of snowdrops is called Galanthophila and someone, like me who loves snowdrops is a Galanthophile.
Snowdrop of Hope - After Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden, Eve wept bitterly at her first sight of snow. Whereupon an angel turned some of the snowflakes into snowdrops to show her that winter does eventually turn into spring.
Or death? The Victorians believed that they conveyed a message of hope, but also death. This idea may come from its habit of blooming just above a cold and lifeless earth and partly from the petals resemblance to a folded white shroud. This association is probably why bringing snowdrops into the house is thought to be very unlucky.
Native or not? A bit of both. The snowdrop is a sparsely distributed native wild flower which was spread extensively by organised planting. There are nearly 20 wild snowdrop species, from all over Europe, and from these hundreds of cultivated varieties have been developed. Our native variety is Galanthus nivalis a member of the lily family, closely related to the daffodil.
How much??? The snowdrop world was taken aback when a single snowdrop G woronowii ‘Elizabeth Harrison’ was sold for a record £725 in 2013 but this was broken in February 2015 when someone paid £1,390 on G plicatus ‘Golden Fleece’! However, February 2022, the record was smashed yet again with a single new bulb being sold for £1,850. G plicatus 'Golden Tears' was bred by Joe Sharman of Monksilver Nursery, known as the ‘king of snowdrops’.
How do I plant them? Lift and divide snowdrops when the foliage is just dying back in late spring. Or you can buy plants just after flowering when their leaves are still green (‘in the green’). Plant snowdrops in a partly-shaded position in a moist, but well-drained soil with leafmould or garden compost. It is important that the soil does not dry out in summer. For more info on snowdrop maintenance, see the RHS website.
White snowdrops against the blue winter sky in the gardens at Goldsborough Hall
To a Snowdrop
LONE Flower, hemmed in with snows and white as they
But hardier far, once more I see thee bend
Thy forehead, as if fearful to offend,
Like an unbidden guest. Though day by day,
Storms, sallying from the mountain-tops, waylay
The rising sun, and on the plains descend;
Yet art thou welcome, welcome as a friend…
…Nor will I then thy modest grace forget,
Chaste Snowdrop, venturous harbinger of Spring,
And pensive monitor of fleeting years!
Worthsworth, Rydal Mount, 1819