Snowdrop - Flower of Hope

     A sunny day in Shropshire, and I’ve been leaning on a farm gate looking across still flooded fields towards May Hill, and dreaming of the summer walks I hope to take there in warmer sunshine.

   One of the nicer things about February is the number of snowdrops you come upon when you are out walking. Every cottage seems to have a selection, and even at some places where there have been cottages in the past, though the remains of the buildings and the people who once lived in them are long gone, drifts of the snowdrops the people planted to beautify their surroundings whilst they were there remain to bear testament to their passing.

   Galanthus nivalis, the common snowdrop, sometimes called the Flower of Hope because its appearance is traditionally supposed to herald the end of winter, isn’t native to Britain, so any you see growing must have been planted by someone, or they wouldn’t be there. Its natural home is Southern Europe, from where it was probably introduced to Britain as recently as the early 1500s, even though some people believe it to have been introduced by the Romans.

   Snowdrops grow best when planted in dappled shade in soil that is well drained, but doesn’t dry out completely in summer. If planted in grass they should be left to die back before the grass around them is cut. Clumps which have grown large enough to separate are best divided whilst still in full growth (“in the green”) to plant elsewhere in your garden. Failing that, move them when plants are just into their dormant period, immediately after their leaves have withered.

     

                                                 

    In the garden, look out for drooping spikes of fragrant bell-shaped pale yellow flowers appearing on the bare branches of Corylopsis pauciflora during mid-spring, before its leaves appear.