CAROLYN'S SHADE GARDENS

Fall color has been glorious this year and continues on for a little while longer.  It has also been a great fall for working outside, and I have been busily cleaning out around the snowdrops and checking their stakes and their labeling.  Each clump then gets a small layer of compost and a thin covering of ground leaves.  They will also be fertilized with liquid fish emulsion.  It has been very dry but that thankfully ended this week with 2″ of much needed rain.

As usual, the 2024 Snowdrop Catalogue will be posted on our website in the first half of December.  Meanwhile, this post will give everyone an advance look (sorry, no advance orders) at some of the special, new snowdrops that will be available in the catalogue.  Enjoy!

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.
.

In February, Michael and I toured Anglesey Abbey, near Cambridge, England.  It is one of the most visited National Trust properties, and I can see why after experiencing its beautiful winter gardens.  We were given a private tour by Senior Gardener David Jordan, the resident snowdrop expert among other responsibilities.  The tour included the extensive snowdrop collection where we saw ‘Anglesey Candlelight’ for the first time.

.

I am a sucker for a snowdrop with a face and find ‘Anglesey Candlelight’ charming (photo taken at Avon Bulbs 2/2023).

‘Anglesey Candlelight’ is a very rare snowdrop with large flowers featuring an expressive face and a tinge of pale orange on its inner segments.  Its leaves are a light, lettuce green.  David Jordan spotted it about ten years ago while out looking for unique snowdrops among the thousands of specimens in the garden.  He noticed its light green leaves and moved it to the collection area for evaluation.  When it flowered the next year, he saw the orange shade on the inners and “named it ‘Anglesey Candlelight’ as it described the flower and the way it glows like a candle.” 

If you go to England during snowdrop time, I highly recommend visiting Anglesey Abbey, click here.  Be aware that to see the specialist collection of rare snowdrops, you need to book a guided tour far in advance.  Thank you, David, for one of the best snowdrop days we have ever spent!

.‘Phil Cornish’ is one of the most highly praised inverse poculiform snowdrops (photo from Anne Repnow, Some Snowdrops, thanks Anne!)

In 2017, we had the great pleasure of visiting the well known galanthophile and discoverer of many fine snowdrops Phil Cornish in his Gloucestershire garden.  The much sought after snowdrop ‘Phil Cornish’ was discovered there in 2002.  It is an inverse poculiform (all the segments are inners) with the classic pagoda shape and G. plicatus ‘Trym’ as a parent.   This upright and early-flowering selection has stunning markings: almost all green inner segments and outers heavily marked with a dark green heart at the apex and a paler green patch at the base.

.

‘Phil Cornish’ has the classic pagoda shape (photo from Anne Repnow, Some Snowdrops).

‘Phil Cornish’ is highly praised in my favorite snowdrop reference Some Snowdrops: A Photographic Ramble by Anne Repnow.  It was also profiled as a favorite in the January 2023 Gardens Illustrated article on snowdrops in Margery Fish’s garden at East Lambrook Manor, click here, (scroll to the end for their top picks).  The photos in the article are taken by photographer Jason Ingram and are quite lovely—be sure and scroll down to see ‘Phil Cornish’.

.

‘Daphne’s Scissors’ sparkles in the winter sun (photo taken at Carolyn’s Shade Gardens 3/2015).

‘Daphne’s Scissors’ is a cultivar of G. elwesii, the giant snowdrop.  English galanthophile Daphne Chappell found it in her garden in Chedworth, Gloucestershire, in 1985.  She named it for the scissor-shaped inner segment mark.  It is an upright plant with large flowers.  Evidently, the presence of the bold green mark on the outer segments varies in England, but on my plants it is present every year (see photo below).

.

‘Daphne’s Scissors’ thrives in my garden (photo taken at Carolyn’s Shade Gardens 2/2023).

.

‘Franz Josef’ shows its strong, emerald green markings (photo taken at Carolyn’s Shade Gardens 2/2022).

‘Franz Josef’ has eye-catching, very large and full double flowers with inner segments tightly packed to bursting.  The narrow outer segments with bold green tips fully expose the deep emerald green cross on the inners.  Its elongated and cone-shaped ovary (the cap above the flower) is also unusual.

.

Avon Bulbs featured ‘Franz Josef’ in its gold-medal winning display at the RHS Show in February 2017 (photo taken at RHS Show 2/2017)

This neat and handsome double is a cultivar of the giant snowdrop, G. elwesii.  Although it was discovered by Michael Dreisvogt in a Munich Park in 1999, it remains rare.

.

‘George Elwes’ (photo taken at Carolyn’s Shade Gardens 2/2023)

The snowdrop bible names ‘George Elwes’ the “finest” G. elwesii x G. plicatus hybrid (Snowdrops: A Monograph of Cultivated Galanthus by Matt Bishop, Aaron Davis, and John Grimshaw Timber Press 2006, page 265).  It earns this praise because it is a tall and upright snowdrop with large flowers.  The long, elegant outer segments compliment perfectly the fully green inner segments.  I especially like the long curved spathe encircling the ovary (the cap above the flower).  It was selected in 1979 by my dear friend Carolyn Elwes at Colesbourne Park and named after her late son.

.

Snowdrop expert Alan Street considered ‘George Elwes’ special enough to give it a prominent location in the Avon Bulbs display at the February 2018 Royal Horticultural Society Show (photo taken at the RHS Show 2/2018).

.

Look for another post profiling more new snowdrops soon.

.

Blogs are a lot more fun for everyone, especially the writer, when readers leave comments.  Scroll down to the end of the page to the box where it says “Leave a Reply” and start typing—-it’s easy!

Carolyn

.