With thanks to our resident gardener Stephen Lee
Little Angels
February, is a marvelous month for one of our best loved winter flowering woodland bulb peaks in this month. This marvelous plant being the humble snowdrop. You can visit many gardens the length and breadth of the country looking at great swathes of snowdrops flowering in woodland situations. Many of the gardens that we visit at this time of year have these and many and many more varieties, of those gardens probably Colesborne near Cirencester is the best garden to visit as it has hundreds of varieties. There is also for sheer quantity Welford Park near Newbury. Looking at a sea of little white flowers is a thing to behold. On a (warm) day plus 2 degrees and the sun is shining through the trees most snowdrops produce a pleasant scent. However, look closer as not all snowdrops are the same…
We commonly grow in our gardens two varieties of snowdrop (Galanthus). These being Galanthus nivalis and Galanthus nivalis floro plena, although there are now others available in garden centers like Galanthus polar bear, Galanthus elwesi1, a nice green tip one called Galanthus Snow Fox, and Galanthus woronowii the bright green leaved snowdrop. Although there are only 20 species, there are thousand or so varieties. Snowdrops are broken down into probably four main types and those being; – Single, double, green and gold.
Single varieties would include our most common variety Galanthus Nivalis which we can find adorning most our gardens and hedgerows. (But please note that this snowdrop is not native). Other varieties of single snowdrop would include Galanthus Elwesii with its big white flowers and broad steely grey leaves and make impressive clumps when in flower. Galanthus Plicatus is a nice single with grey stripe down the rib of leaf and green surrounding.
Double varieties include our own Galanthus floro plena, often flowering somewhat later than the single version in our gardens. Also, a variant from G. Floro plena is Galanthus Ashwick green tip, which has lovely double flowers with green tips of the outer petals. Another glorious double is Galanthus Betty Hansell with a very tidy double center with strong green markings and enclosed in pure white outer petals when in bud. There is a yellow or gold double snowdrop and that is called Galanthus Lady Elphinstone.
Green varieties of snowdrop are referred to varieties that mainly have green markings on the outer petals that encapsulates the flower. Although there are many here’s a few to look out for in opened gardens or plants sales. Galanthus Art Nouveau, a largish flower with pale green markings on the lower tip of the outer petals. Galanthus Big Bertha, as the name suggests a large flower with strong dark green markings. Galanathus Green Tear, has lovely staining of green down the outer petals making it quite striking. One of my favorites Galanthus Trump, with a lovely dark green triangular marking on the outer petals and when open in the sun the flowers look like wings splayed out.
Gold varieties are snowdrops with yellow (gold) ovaries and yellow markings where the green marking would have been. I can’t decide whether I’m a fan or not. The gold ones or so I’m told can vary in the intensity of gold depending on the soil they are grown in. Anyway, maybe one of the oldest varieties of gold snowdrop is Galanthus Wendy’s Gold. A lovely strong growing snowdrop with good colouring and nice leaves as one of its parents is Galanthus plicatus. Galanthus Madelaine is a good growing snowdrop and clumps up pretty quickly. As previously mentioned, a nice double Galanthus Lady Elphinstone.
There is a show or festival of snowdrops relatively close to us here and that the Shepton Snowdrop festival 20th – 21st February 2026. If you are a collector (galanthophile) or have a keen interest, this is the festival for you. Visit the Shepton snowdrop festival page on google to see the list of activities. Gardens close to us are Kilver court, Bishop’s palace, Algars manor, further afield a wonderful garden that open that has many varieties of snowdrops is East Lambrook manor.
Snowdrops are a must for the winter garden and these charming little angels are often referred to being the heralds of spring.
Below is a gallery of pictures relating to February
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