Snow growth

I was out in the front garden last week planting up some primulas as an elderly lady walked by and stopped to chat. She liked a stroll in February, she told me, on the look-out for snowdrops and was pleased to see these first flowers of spring in bloom in a small patch in my garden.

Although snowdrops are not the only plants in flower in the early months of the year, their appearance is especially cheering and it really feels that winter is on its way out with spring beckoning silently around the corner. These hardy little plants survive in the coldest of weather, pushing through frozen earth in January and gradually getting taller until February when they open their lovely flowers. They are held at the top of slim stems surrounded by bladed foliage. Their white flowers look especially good against dark earth or surrounded by brown autumn leaves, the contrast providing an excellent stage for these low-growing bulbs.

The botanical name for snowdrop is Galanthus, which comes from the Greek gala meaning milk and anthos meaning flower. The common snowdrop Galanthus nivalis has its whiteness underlined by the addition of the second word nivalis, which means snowy. This is the commonest of this family of plants seen in many gardens and woodland at this time of year. Growing to around 15cm/6ins tall, Galanthus nivalis has three pure white outer petals about 2.5cm/1ins long and three smaller inner petals, each of which is tipped with green. The thin, strap-like foliage is grey green.

Despite Galanthus nivalis being seen wild in woodland and on grassy verges, it is thought that it's not originally a British native, but brought to these isles and cultivated around monasteries, planted as a symbol of purity. Since then the plants have spread and are now an accepted part of our natural plant life.

There are many varieties of Galanthus nivalis including 'Viridapice' with green markings on both inner and outer petals and the unusual looking 'Sandersii'. This latter plant has yellow markings on the inner petals and a yellowish green ovary - the bulbous swelling between the stem and flower. However, it prefers an acid soil and can be difficult to grow. Galanthus plicatus 'Wendy's Gold' is said to be easier to grow. Discovered near Cambridge in 1985 the inner petals of 'Wendy's Gold' are almost completely yellow both inside and out, the colour echoed in the hue of the ovary.

For those keen on double flowers, there are several of these types in the nivalis family including 'Flore Pleno' and 'Pusey Green Tips', both with the usual flat, grey green foliage of this branch of the genus and many inner petals giving the look of a ballerina's tutu. Some of these in 'Flore Pleno' are marked with green while those of 'Pusey Green tips' are much more heavily coloured.

The snowdrop family is very large with Galanthus nivalis just a small part of it. Many are listed in the Plant Finder but there are many more that are unlisted, with rare ones exchanged among collectors and not seen outside of these private collections. However, members of the nivalis section are generally easy to grow once established and with enough variation within the group to provide an interesting start to a collection of these lovely late-winter flowers.

Growing snowdrops

Snowdrops usually prefer moist humus-rich soil in part shade - among hellebores and pulmonaria or under a deciduous shrub is ideal. Here they will get some spring sunshine but will be sheltered from hot summer sun by the foliage of the other plants. I have found pulmonarias to be particularly good companions as they begin to look their best just as the snowdrop foliage fades and flops and needs hiding. Like other bulbs, the leaves need to be left until they have died back before being removed.

Snowdrops grow best when planted 'in-the-green' after flowering when the foliage is still intact and the bulbs are fat. Snowdrop bulbs do not like to be dried out, which is why so many fail to grow when planted as dry bulbs in early autumn, despite this often being the recommended time.

Snowdrops in-the-green can be bought over the internet or ordered from adverts in the classified section of gardening magazines. Make sure they are guaranteed to have been cultivated and not taken from the wild.

Bargains can also be had at garden centres when pots of snowdrops have finished flowering and are reduced for a quick sale. Plant as soon as possible after purchase.

Overgrown or congested clumps of snowdrops flower poorly and can be rejuvenated by lifting and dividing after flowering. Care needs to be taken to limit root damage and the bulbs must be replanted straight away to give them as much time as possible to recover before their flowering time begins.

TV and radio

Sunday, February 12:

9am, Radio Leeds, Tim Crowther, Joe Maiden.

Noon, Radio York, William Jenkyns.

2pm, R4, Gardeners' Question Time. Bob Flowerdew, Carol Klein, John Cushnie and Chairman Eric Robson are in Oxfordshire where they help gardeners from the Friends of Chipping Norton Theatre with their horticultural problems.

2.45pm, R4, Extreme Britain. In the first of a new five-part series, Mike Dilger explores the extremes of the British Countryside, starting with Holme Fen near Peterborough. At nearly four metres below sea level, this is the lowest place in the UK and the result of the draining of a large lake in the early 1850s.

Updated: 16:15 Friday, February 10, 2006