CAROLYN'S SHADE GARDENS

I travel to England to view snowdrops in person rather than relying on on line photos to choose what to offer in my catalogue.  I am looking not only for snowdrops that stand out for their markings, but also for cultivars that are vigorous and beautiful whether rare or not.  All the snowdrops in this post stood out when I photographed the hundreds of snowdrops in bloom at Avon Bulbs in Somerset last February!

This is part two of a three-part post on the new snowdrops that will be offered in our 2024 Snowdrop Catalogue.  To read part one, click here.  As usual, the catalogue will be posted on our website in the first half of December.  Meanwhile, this post will give everyone an advance look (sorry, no advance orders) at five more special, new snowdrops that will be available for order in December.  Enjoy!

Nursery News:  Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a retail nursery located in Bryn Mawr, PA, specializing in showy, colorful, and unusual plants for shade.  The only plants that we ship are snowdrops within the US.  For catalogues and announcements of local events, please send your full name, mailing address, and cell number to carolyn@carolynsshadegardens.com and indicate whether you are interested in snowdrops.  Click here to get to the home page of our website for catalogues and information about our nursery and to subscribe to our blog.
.

‘Miss Prissy’ also has green tips on the outers.

‘Miss Prissy’ is a very neat, outward-facing double snowdrop.  The outer segments have prominent green tips and the inner segments are very green with sparkling white edges.  It is a hybrid between the giant snowdrop, G. elwesii, and the double common snowdrop, G. nivalis ‘Flore Pleno’, selected by Stephen Jackson and registered in 2017.  It is named after the spinster hen in the Looney Tunes cartoon.

. ‘Excelsis’

‘Excelsis’ arrived in my garden by mistake last year, and I was so taken with it that I ordered more so I could include it in the catalogue this year.  International snowdrop expert Alan Street discovered ‘Excelsis’ as a seedling at Avon Bulbs in 2015.  He was immediately dazzled by its long, shapely outer segments and the heavenly marked green inners, hence the name.  A dark green V extending from the apex joins a lighter green V from the base, creating an elegant and unusual mark.

.

‘Excelsis’ has an unusual inner mark.

.

‘Big Bertha’ is rarely offered for sale.

‘Big Bertha’ has huge, round flowers with dark green tips on the ballooning outer segments and a prominent dark green mark on the inners.  Its habit is distinct with widely splayed leaves at ground level and very upright flowers and scapes (flower stalks).  All these characteristics together make it instantly recognizable in the garden. 

.

‘Big Bertha’s habit is very upright.

‘Big Bertha’ is a vigorous cultivar of the giant snowdrop, G. elwesii.  It was discovered around 2004  in a bulk purchase of bulbs by Gill Richardson, Manor Farm, Lincolnshire.

.

‘Washfield Colesbourne’

I saw ‘Washfield Colesbourne’ for the first time at Avon Bulbs during my February 2023 trip to England and had to have it.  As Gardens Illustrated says in its January 2023 article, click here, it is tall and majestic with large flowers and incredibly dark green inner segments.  The snowdrop bible calls it a “magnificent hybrid” (Snowdrops: A Monograph of Cultivated Galanthus by Matt Bishop, Aaron Davis, and John Grimshaw Timber Press 2006, page 266).

.

A group of ‘Washfield Colesbourne’ really stands out.

‘Washfield Colesbourne’ was found at Elizabeth Strangman’s famous Washfield Nursery in Hawkhurst, Kent.  It is a seedling of the snowdrop ‘Colesbourne’, and much more vigorous than its parent.

.

‘Ivy Cottage Corporal’

‘Ivy Cottage Corporal’ has long, elegant, and full outer segments.  The inners are boldly marked with the double chevron insignia found on a British corporal’s uniform.  It is a vigorous hybrid and produces many flowers.  Probably a G. nivalis x G. plicatus cross, it was discovered by Michael Broadhurst in 2013.

.

‘Ivy Cottage Corporal’ displays its well-shaped outer segments.

‘Ivy Cottage Corporal’ is highly praised in my favorite snowdrop reference Some Snowdrops: A Photographic Ramble by Anne Repnow.  It was also profiled as a favorite in the January 2023 Gardens Illustrated article on snowdrops in Margery Fish’s garden at East Lambrook Manor, click here.  The photos in the article are taken by photographer Jason Ingram and are quite lovely—be sure and scroll down to see ‘Ivy Cottage Corporal’.

.

Look for Part Three of this post profiling five more new snowdrops from our 2024 catalogue soon.

.

Blogs are a lot more fun for everyone, especially the writer, when readers leave comments.  Scroll down to the end of the page to the box where it says “Leave a Reply” and start typing—-it’s easy!

Carolyn

.