CAROLYN'S SHADE GARDENS

To access our mail order snowdrop catalogue, click here.  We are currently taking orders, and there are still a lot of great varieties left.

.The winter landscape at Thenford is classically beautiful.

In February of 2023, we had the great good fortune to be invited by Deputy Head Gardener Emma Thick for a private tour of the snowdrops at Thenford Gardens and Arboretum located in Thenford, Near Banbury, Oxfordshire, England.  Thenford is a 70 acre arboretum created by Michael and Anne Hesseltine, beginning in 1976 when they purchased the property.  Their initial focus was a 40 acre woodland that required extensive renovations to the woods themselves and various structures and water features, including a walled garden, a rill, water gardens, and a sculpture garden.  Thenford now has over 3,000 different trees and shrubs.

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.

.Another beautiful vista at Thenford.

In the 1990s Henry and Carolyn Elwes, whose gardens at Colesbourne Park are a premier snowdrop destination, encouraged the Hesseltines to focus on adding snowdrops to Thenford’s collection.  In 2014, snowdrop expert Emma Thick was hired to oversee the snowdrops, and in 2016, the garden began opening for snowdrop walks.  Today there are over 1,000 snowdrop cultivars and species in the collection, which was awarded National Collection status by Plant Heritage in June 2023.  The current focus is dividing and spreading the snowdrops more widely through out the grounds.

.The walled garden.

You can visit Thenford by purchasing tickets in advance here.  The snowdrop open days for 2026 are January 28 and February 14, 20, and 24.  Tickets are £14.00.

.My husband Michael with Emma Thick in the walled garden.

As you can see from the photos above, the day we visited Thenford was bright and sunny with not a cloud in the sky.  These are not ideal conditions for taking photos of snowdrops, which get washed out in bright sunlight and look awful when partially in full shade and partially in full sun.  However, I did get a few decent shots. 

First, here are some of the amazing sweeps of snowdrops that blanket the gardens:

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‘Godfrey Owen’

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‘Primrose Warburg’

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‘Lapwing’

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‘Mrs. Thompson’

Here are some of the individual snowdrops that I admired:

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‘Bill Bishop’

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‘Moses Basket’ dutifully making its basket

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‘Fatty Puff’

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‘Walrus’

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‘Walter’s Double’

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A cross between ‘Fatty Puff’ and G. gracilis ‘Yamandar’, which I found quite intriguing.

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Thanks, Emma, for a wonderful visit!

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Carolyn

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