CAROLYN'S SHADE GARDENS

Carolyn’s Shade Gardens has been selling snowdrops for almost 27 years, since we started the nursery in 1992, and we formalized the process with our first written catalogue in 2008.  In 2010, we added a mail order option, and sales have grown exponentially due to our very loyal and satisfied customers in Pennsylvania and all over the US.  We are getting ready to issue the 2019 Snowdrop Catalogue in December (2018) and want to give blog readers a preview of some of our new offerings. Part One of the preview, can be viewed by clicking here.

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.

The fat flowers of ‘Richard Ayres’ in my garden on 2/1/17

‘Richard Ayres’ has an eye-catching, very large and full double flower on a tall, vigorous, and easy-to-grow plant.   The outer segments vary in number from four to six, and the inner markings are also variable but quite pretty.  It was discovered in 1987 by celebrated plantsman Richard Nutt in the gardens of Anglesey Abbey in Cambridge and named by the UK National Trust, which owns Anglesey Abbey, for the head gardener.

.

‘Green Brush’ has a gorgeous outer mark.

Galanthus elwesii ‘Green Brush‘ is a one of the best green-tipped snowdrops with big, bold, substantial flowers on a tall plant—very striking and distinct.  The fat outer segments are thick and waxy with strong markings at the apex as though dipped in paint.  The inner segments are solid green.  Selected in the Netherlands by fifth generation bulb breeder Gerald Oud.

.

‘Faringdon Double’ is one of my earliest blooming snowdrops, pictured here on 1/6/13.

.

‘Faringdon Double’

Early-blooming snowdrops really make a statement, and ‘Faringdon Double‘ is one of the earliest in my garden and definitely the earliest double.  It has large, well-formed flowers on vigorous and easy-to-grow plants.  The outer segments are large and rounded, and the inner segments are very regular with a broad heart-shaped mark.  It was discovered growing in a churchyard in 1988 in Faringdon, Oxfordshire, by British snowdrop collectors David and Ruby Baker.

.

This photo shows ‘Faringdon Double’s’ characteristic inflated spathe, which encases the flower bud before it drops and opens.

.

‘Merlin’ is a striking classic snowdrop.

‘Merlin‘ is another snowdrop so special that it earned an Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society in 2012, one of only 28 out of more then 2,500 snowdrops to get this recognition.  It is a beautiful, vigorous, highly-prized classic snowdrop, possibly a hybrid between G. elwesii and G. plicatus.  It is the best known and most widely grown snowdrop with completely dark green inner segments.  Discovered in his garden in 1891 by Victorian plantsman James Allen of Shepton Mallet in Somerset.

.

‘Trym’ has unusual markings.

Galanthus plicatus ‘Trym’ caused a sensation when it first appeared in the snowdrop world due to its unique flower structure where the three outer segments have been replaced by three more inner segments.  This iconic, pagoda-like look has since been coined inverse poculiform and applied to ‘Trym’s’ many descendants, most with ‘Trym’ in their name.  The outer segments have a large heart-shaped, green mark and are broad, reflexed, and sport the notch in the tip of the segments typical of an inner segment.  The result is a distinctive, striking, and lovely snowdrop.  It was discovered by Jane Gibbs, a gardener in Westbury on Trym, Bristol.

.

‘Trym’ is a great snowdrop to have in your garden if you want to produce some interesting seedlings, here growing out from under a hedge.

.

‘Starling’ is a beautiful double snowdrop.

‘Starling’s’ short flower stem causes the flower to face outward giving a direct view of its cluster of star-like, dark green inner segments, hence star-ling, meaning young star. Its outer segments are long, pointed, and boat-shaped, and the overall effect is lovely.  It was found in the famous copse at Avon Bulbs and may be a cross between G. elwesii and ‘Hill Poe’, one of my favorite doubles.  Be sure and click on the link in the caption above for a better photo.

.

Snowdrop season is upon us with fall-bloomers in full flower, and the tips of many other snowdrops rising from the mulch.  While heavy frosts and freezing temperatures end the gardening year, the emerging snowdrops give me hope and the promise of flowers to come in the dead of winter.

Carolyn