North Green Snowdrops
Our current snowdrop catalogue is on line here.
John Morley welcomes us to his elegant home and the gardens at North Green Snowdrops.
Last February, my husband Michael and I traveled to England to visit gardens and meet famous galanthophiles. One of the most famous is John Morley of the legendary nursery North Green Snowdrops. North Green has named snowdrops that are iconic in the galanthus world, including ‘Trumps’, ‘Comet’, ‘Mrs. Macnamara’, ‘Three Ships’, and ‘Remember, Remember’. John recently introduced the golden yellow ‘Mother Goose’, which immediately topped my acquisition list.
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 mail order only. Click here to get to the home page of our website for catalogues and information about our nursery and to subscribe to our blog.
The lovely Morley home
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As the snow falls, John Morley gamely points out snowdrops in the garden at North Green.
On a trip where we never saw the sun and it rained or snowed every day, our visit to North Green stood out as the coldest day of the two weeks we were in England. North Green is located in Beccles on the east coast of England where the land juts out to receive icy blasts from the North Sea. As we toured the garden, Arctic wind blew the snow sideways, and at least half my photos were out-of-focus as the snowdrops swayed. However, we persevered and saw many snowdrops I had only read about before, which I want to share with you.
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‘Walter Fish’
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‘Yaffle’
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‘Trumps’ found in the North Green garden by Matt Bishop.
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‘Golden Fleece’, the first yellow ‘Trym’, introduced by Joe Sharman at Monksilver Nursery, and an eBay record setter at £1,390 for one plant. Yellow snowdrops often look olive in England, to me anyway, rather than the bright yellow they display in the US due to our sunny weather.
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‘Green Comet’ originated in the garden at North Green and was named for its large flowers, resembling ‘Comet’, and its lettuce green leaves, usually in threes as you can see in the photo.
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‘Fieldgate Prelude’
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‘Green of Hearts’ originated at North Green and is distinguished from ‘Trumps’ by its darker green and more heart-shaped markings.
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A curiosity that has not been introduced, “747 Short Leaf” has, of course, very short leaves. This photo also shows the icy snow that was falling during our visit!
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‘Jubilee Green’ with its bright green leaves was named to commemorate North Green’s 25th year in business.
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‘Ray Cobb’, another yellow looking quite olive.
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‘Fenstead End’
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Matt Bishop named this snowdrop ‘Neckless Wonder’ because it has no pedicel attaching it to the scape.
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I thought this was one of the prettiest snowdrops I saw, maybe because after 10 tries it stood still for its photo. Not introduced yet and called “NGZZZ-R-OVXVXP” for now.
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Halfway through the tour, when I was the coldest I had ever been, John invited us into his warm and cheery home for some very welcome tea. He rated us very keen galanthophiles indeed when we were eager to continue the tour after tea.
Carolyn
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CAROLYN'S SHADE GARDENS 
January 15, 2018 at 10:14 am
Timing is everything. Have spent part of the last few evenings looking at North Green and such and now there’s this to look forward to. I’m sure it’ll be a great read.
January 15, 2018 at 10:21 am
I saw on the Scottish Rock Garden Club galanthus forum that the North Green catalogue was on line, so thought it would be a good time to do the North Green post that I planned. I wish the photos were better but the conditions for photography were the worst I have faced. Even more coincidentally I got an email from John Morley this morning about our upcoming trip to England in February. The snowdrop world is a small one though spread across the globe.
January 15, 2018 at 11:09 am
What a wonderful series of varieties. And fabulous photography despite the weather. I can’t quite run to “Golden Fleece” this year, especially as it may be “Olive Fleece” here in the UK. Not quite from my dreams.
January 15, 2018 at 11:51 am
Ian, I quite agree with you if the price is £1,390 as on eBay. However, there is a much more economically priced yellow Trym called ‘Midas’, which is available from Avon Bulbs for £100. Avon’s 2018 catalogue is coming out this week. I have seen ‘Midas’, and it was more yellow. For a really good photo, go to my post here: https://carolynsshadegardens.com/2017/03/15/snowdrops-at-the-royal-horticultural-society-spring-show/, and scroll to the end. Carolyn
January 15, 2018 at 11:30 am
These seem to be all the rage! Right now, it seems to be the most popular flower to write about. I have not seen one in years. (We have a different weedier and unrelated snowdrop.) All this talk makes me want to grow some, just to see what all the fuss is about. White does happen to be my favorite color.
January 15, 2018 at 11:44 am
Tony, Becoming obsessed with snowdrops was a slow process for me as I came to appreciate their bloom time, their flowers, their history, and the people associated with them, all of which are equal in importance to me. Snowdrops have been the rage for over 100 years, but you are right collecting them is at a peak right now. You should try it! Carolyn
January 15, 2018 at 11:50 am
Oh NO! I might get a few of the common sorts, but the LAST thing I need to do is start to collect something else!
January 15, 2018 at 11:52 am
It all starts with the common sorts……and it’s a slippery slope.
January 15, 2018 at 11:54 am
I am rather good at NOT collecting because I have so much to tend to already.
January 15, 2018 at 12:43 pm
For one wild moment I was under the mis-impression you were cross listing the North Green Catalog with yours and selling from both — not that that would be a bad idea. Loved the tour!
January 15, 2018 at 1:02 pm
Tim, That would be fun wouldn’t it! Glad you enjoyed the post. I am worried that my readers are getting sick on snowdrops. I do have a beautiful rose garden to write about so I will have to get on that. Carolyn
January 15, 2018 at 7:28 pm
Sick of reading about snowdrops?! Not a chance. As long as this cold wind blows I’ll be looking for anything to give me hope for spring.
I’m glad you stuck it out through the cold and were able to see a few exciting flowers, the photos are great… although I’m sure just a little more warmth would have made everything nicer. I guess that’s the cross snowdrop lovers are destined to wear!
January 15, 2018 at 9:11 pm
Frank, I always wondered why snowdrop lovers in England posted photos of closed flowers. But since visiting, I realized that the flowers are not open that often because the sun does not shine very much. It really makes you appreciate the snowdrops that show their marks when the flower is closed. I have a lot more material from my trip last February, but not everyone is a galanthophile—followers might want to read about other plants, hard as that is to imagine 😊. Carolyn