Monday 28 January 2013

Early snowdrops at Colesbourne Park

Galanthus plicatus 'Colossus'

The original big drift of 'Colossus' is a highlight of the early part of the season at Colesbourne.

I spent the weekend at Colesbourne Park, helping with the preparations for the snowdrop open days, which start next weekend. When I arrived on Saturday most of the garden was covered in snow and Chris Horsfall and I went round placing labels through the snow, but heavy rain in the early hours of Sunday cleared almost all of it, to everyone's great relief. As the snow went the snowdrops emerged, revealing quite a good show already in flower. With mild weather forecast for this week I'm sure that by next weekend there will be a lot to see. The garden is open every weekend in February and the first weekend of March, from 1pm. Details are on the website, as is the very nice list of potted snowdrops available for sale - they are looking really good!

The very pretty flower of 'Esther Merton', available at Colesbourne for a fraction of Ebay prices... 

Galanthus elwesii 'Green Brush' looking good after a couple of years in the ground.
 
G. elwesii 'Rosemary Burnham' is a very choice, short-statured virescent.

'John Grey' with Bergenia 'Godfrey Owen'

The stalwart 'James Backhouse' is just getting going.


3 comments:

  1. They look superb, I do wish I was nearer. Still we do have drifts at Walsingham and Raveningham to wander through. Will this be in the grand plan for Castle Howard too?

    ReplyDelete
  2. How advanced are they at Settrington? Mine in York are and Bolton Percy are just appearing. I love their ability to push through the snow.

    ReplyDelete
  3. 'Colossus' is a fantastic variety. I bought a single bulb from you at Colesbourne 5 years ago and with division it's made a nice clump and enough bulbs to use for swaps. A mild, if very wet, day today has allowed my 'drops to open up and display their markings - most aptly 'Grumpy' on such a day - always raises a smile!

    ReplyDelete

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.