The snowdrop odyssey ends at home

I have made a few snowdrop visits this year and I have thoroughly enjoyed my travels.  I am very fond of snowdrops as they are a sign of winter coming to an end.  They are also just cheerful little flowers.  To be honest the snowdrops were probably more an excuse to get out and go for a walk, have a good chat and find cake.  It made the darkest weeks of winter go by much more easily than usual.

So I finish this snowdrop odyssey with a look around my own garden.  When I first moved into this house there was one small clump of snowdrops by the gate that divides the front garden to the back.
There were just a few when I first moved here, since then I have had to divide them as they were getting congested and I think they might get spread out a bit further again this year.
I bought some snowdrops in my first winter here and planted a few in the driveway, this little clump has bulked up quite well and will also be divided soon.  When I first bought snowdrops for this garden I bought 200 or so a year of dried bulbs.  As I write this I can hear people sighing and even sniggering as they will not be surprised to hear that probably only 50% of these ever started to grow.  This is immensely disappointing when it happens and it was only from reading various garden magazines that I realised that buying 'in the green' was the best way forward.  I now only buy in the green and it is far more satisfactory.
I largely plant snowdrops around the edges of the Wild Garden.  Some are forming some nice clumps now, almost a little drift, a driftini?
This little planting is mainly from last year's snowdrop purchase and whilst they are not clumpy, they are growing and next year I expect to see more.
I am in the habit of buying snowdrops every time I visit a snowdrop garden.  Just a little pot, usually spending no more than £3 or £4.  I plant them in specific places like these three by the medlar tree and note where I have planted them in my garden journal.  If I re-visit a garden then I will plant further purchases nearby so it becomes that particular area.
I am so pleased I will be dividing clumps this year as well as buying another 200 (in the green).  It is not quite a snowdrop garden yet....
but check back in about ten years and I reckon it could be by then.

Posts written about snowdrops visited this year:

Hodsock Priory

Little Ponton Hall

Easton Walled Gardens

Buckminster

Launde Abbey

Calke Abbey and Dimminsdale

Comments

  1. You have had lots of wonderful visits to snowdrop gardens - lucky you!
    It's wonderful when your snowdrops increase and need splitting, I only bought 50 single and 50 double to start with and now every year some of the clumps need dividing, hopefully soon I will have sheets of white everywhere!

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  2. A lovely end to your snowdrop visits. I managed a couple this year, not as many as I'd like! I have enjoyed reading about each of your visits, especially the cake! :)

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