Perfect snowdrops, perfect companions
Garden Director Ursula Cholmeley describes some of her favourite snowdrop plantings at Easton Walled Gardens – and suggests ways to grow them with other spring beauties
Snowdrops are a wonder flower for any garden.
Snowdrops are a wonder flower for any garden. They work as effectively in large landscape plantings as they do in a window box, making them fantastically versatile in every size of garden. Undemanding yet delicate and with a delicious honey scent, they will flower before the rest of the garden even breaks from the ground. Just when you need the leaves to vanish, they die back quickly and won’t bother you again until January. At Easton we are always experimenting with new ways to use these delightful little flowers.
Gracing our Lincolnshire landscape
Here at Easton Walled Gardens, the delicate snowdrop (Galanthus) has long flourished. Some say the Romans brought them along the Great North Road (now the A1), some say that the Tudor Cholmeleys (our predecessors) planted them. No one really knows. Whenever they were introduced, the slopes of the gardens are carpeted with small nodding flowers throughout February and into March. Across the valley, a bowl of white-washed green appears further out in the wider park – these are the snowdrops that were here when the rediscovery of the gardens began in 2002. They prove that large scale plantings of a flower that grows no more than 15cm high can be highly effective and long lived
At Easton Walled Garden, snowdrops flower alongside those other harbingers of spring, golden winter aconites (Eranthis), which add a touch of warmth to the scene
Snowdrops are lovely as sheets of white, but in our meadows, Woodland Walk and on the Snowdrop Bank, careful thought has gone into where and when we need to plant them. The aim is to provide plenty of inspiring views and ongoing interest for visitors as they walk through the garden. There are four main areas where snowdrops flourish.
Drifts along the Snowdrop Bank
The effect we aim for here is natural and unfussy – the interest comes from seeing these bulbs en-masse. The path winds through ash trees, and the old course of the River Witham is once again filled with water in winter. The reflection of snowdrops in the water is a big part of the attraction.
Clumps of common snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis) thrive even at the water’s edge, their reflections boosting the display
The Snowdrop Bank features, for the most part, simple drifts of snowdrops. Clumps of Narcissus ‘Spring Dawn’ are also planted at the foot of the bank by the water
There are some early daffodils by the water’s edge too, including pretty Narcissus ‘Spring Dawn’ which is in flower by mid-February. The weather isn’t always in its favour as heavy frosts or snow can lay it out for several days, but it has pretty, pale petals around a yellow trumpet and combines gently with the snowdrops.
Further up the bank, winter-blooming Lonicera fragrantissima is a deciduous shrub that has small flowers of a similar white and pale-yellow, with an exceptionally sweet perfume and Cornus mas has pom poms of small yellow flowers to attract early insects.
Below the trees in Cedar Meadow
Here, naturalised snowdrops are scattered through grass between large trees. When we started work they had already been joined by the golden cups of winter aconites (Eranthis hyemalis) and the two combine beautifully, set off by the green turf.
Yellow-flowered winter aconites mix perfectly with snowdrops on the Cedar Meadow
Aconites often flower just before common snowdrops and the petals hang on long enough to create a yellow and white patchwork effect. They can be established in large areas by scattering fresh seed where you want to see them and keeping the ground clear of brambles and nettles. Early crocuses work well too, and we have spent some time experimenting with different selections to find the ones that seem happiest and content to stay.
The ‘tommies’ (Crocus tommasinianus) come in various shades of lilac through to deep purple. We use ‘Whitewell Purple’ and ‘Ruby Giant’ mixed with the ordinary species, ordering the corms in September and planting them as soon as they arrive.
Usually by early March, Narcissus ‘Tete-a-tete’ will be up and will continue to provide a yellow foil for the snowdrops; the aconites will have finished and are just green now with emerging star-shaped seed pods replacing the flowers.
Selections of early-flowering Crocus tommasinianus can make great companions for snowdrops
By early March, Narcissus Tete-a-tete will be up and will provide a yellow foil for the snowdrops.
Snowdrops in borders and at garden edges
A winding path leads off the White Space Garden through the Woodland Walk and the Shrubbery. Here snowdrops are combined with perennials and other spring bulbs to create up-close impact. In other words, it’s a lot more colourful and you can get in amongst these plantings.
The combinations well under shrubs, in a cottage garden setting and in the middle of herbaceous borders where the dying foliage will be covered later on in the season by developing perennials.
Hellebores, particularly plants of Helleborus x hybridus, make natural companions to snowdrops, flowering from January to April. If you consider that a tulip may last 10 days if you are lucky, hellebores are remarkably valuable. Their sepals (the real petals are tiny) retain colour when seed pods form and only when they are really tatty do you need to cut them off. Rich deep colours and spotty, picotee or anemone flowered kinds add to their allure.
Perennial Helleborus x hybridus grow well with snowdrops, enjoying similar conditions and bulking up gradually to provide ever more impressive displays
Impressive swathes of hellebore colour can take a while to build up, so it’s good to consider another often-overlooked snowdrop ally – Italian arums (Arum italicum subsp. italicum ‘Marmoratum’). During early winter its glossy foliage emerges from below ground, flashes of silver on the leaves making this a sophisticated combination well-worth seeking out.
Wintergreen perennial Arum italicum subsp. italicum ‘Marmoratum’ makes a sophisticated planting partner for snowdrops
In the Winter Walk at Easton Walled Gardens, winter aconites (Eranthis hyemalis) mix with snowdrops, golden feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium ‘Aureum’) and Cyclamen coum
Striking Cyclamen coum alongside a hellebore (Helleborus x hybridus), red flowered Pulmonaria rubra ‘Redstart’ and Iris reticulata; all grow well with snowdrops
Snowdrops for special beds and containers
We find snowdrops work well in troughs and small beds, containers and pots. A snowdrop collection needs space and permanent labels – beware the strimmer getting busy amid your precious snowdrops in high summer and beheading all your labels!
Our alpine beds and troughs are home to about 10 different selections of snowdrop. Early flowering selections of Galanthus elwesii such as ‘Fred’s Giant’ are usually the first up and they can be grown with little iris such as charming Iris ‘Katherine Hodgkin’ or Iris reticulata ‘George.’
Our cottage garden and secret garden have unusual snowdrops too. I particularly like the double yellow ‘Lady Elphinstone’ although she can be quite miffy; coming up green in some years.
If you are using containers, consider using foliage for background colour. Black-leaved Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Kokuryu’ is a classic choice, but you can also use variegated sedges (Carex), Acorus gramineus ‘Ogon’ or smaller ferns such as Blechnum spicant.
Consider teaming snowdrops with colourful evergreens such as variegated Carex morrowii ‘Ice Dance’ for an effective container display
The young foliage of golden feverfew can be equally dynamic setting off the simple charm of the common snowdrop.
Purely ornamental containers can have snowdrops housed temporarily in them. We dig up clumps just as they start into growth and move them into round terracotta pots – once they have flowered we lift them out, split the bulbs up and re-plant them in a quiet area of the garden.