ENTERTAINMENT THROUGH THE GARDEN GATE
THROUGH THE GARDEN GATE SAUNTERING AMONGST SNOWDROPS
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This month, television horticulturist, Camilla Bassett- Smith, celebrates a flower as white as snow currently setting our gardens aglow.
If you are a Galanthophile, then Gloucestershire is a glorious place to be gardening, for sensational snowdrops are aplenty, fearless with finesse and the subject of mass admiration.
For February is their month to shine, following a few months of rehearsals where early cultivars may raise their heads above the frosty terrain in preparation for the main show ahead.
Of all the bulbs in all the world, (to almost quote ‘Casablanca’), you just have to walk amongst these ones, for nothing is as pure and as elegantly ethereal as sauntering amongst snowdrops.
For a start, we have one of the best collections in the country at Colesbourne Park, described by owner Henry Elwes as “the grand-daddy of snowdrop gardens” and by Country Life as “England’s greatest snowdrop garden”, with over 350 cultivars.
It was Henry’s ancestor, Henry John Elwes who discovered Galanthus elwesii in Turkey in the 1870s, much larger than the common snowdrop and known for its distinctive broad glaucous leaves. A beautiful yellow form of elwesii was found at Colesbourne just over a hundred years later and was appropriately named after the current owner’s late wife, Carolyn Elwes. (This reminds me of a lunch I attended last sum- mer, when asking a fellow guest if they had a particular interest in snowdrops, and they replied that their surname was
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‘Elwes’ – “You need say no more” said I!). The gardens have a series of special snowdrop open days and can be visited every weekend during February, pre-booked guided tours for groups of 20-50 are also available in the week. For all of these visits, tickets must be bought online in advance.
Painswick Rococo Garden is another local snowdrop haven with over 5 million naturalised Galanthus - one of the largest naturalised displays in the country. I was thrilled to film there last year as part of ‘Alan Titchmarsh’s Gardening Club’ and to share one of our local gems with the ITV audience! It is well known for the tall and slender Galanthus ‘Atkinsii’, introduced in the late 1800s by nurseryman John Atkins who lived in Painswick, and well worth a visit this month when at its prime!
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