Winter Pearls

Now that we’re well past the longest night and the days are lengthening, you’ll see snowdrops already pushing up into the light to welcome in the spring,

- Adrienne Wild

Snowdrops are early risers and their hardened tips enable them to push through even the most frosted ground. The mini variety, ‘Athenae’ will have reliably made its appearance in time for Christmas and with careful selection it’s possible to have a snowy carpet running through your flower beds from January through to mid-March.

You can even give your lawn a light dusting of pure white blooms with varieties such as Galanthus ‘Lady Beatrix Stanley’, a neat double with green markings that peaks in February, which holds the coveted RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM). ‘Atkinsii’, which produces larger pear-shaped blooms with a bold inverted heart-like green mark at the tip on top of 20cm stalks, can be relied upon to make a beautiful sight on a crisp morning. While snowdrops look fabulous naturalised enmasse in the garden, some are best grown in pots on a pedestal. They will delight for around five weeks so use them to decorate your doorstep by filling pots with snowdrops and the black grass Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’, combo ideal for a contemporary-style garden in an urban setting.

There are hundreds of different kinds with subtly different petal shapes and markings. Rare forms with yellow markings are very collectable. Leaves also vary from one variety to another and many blooms are scented.