An ill wind blows no plant any good, and although this winter has been miserably wet, the snowdrops have not minded in the least – in fact, they have been exceptional again this year.
My own garden has flooded a number of times this winter and lots of snowdrops have spent weeks with the bulbs not just underground but a foot or so under water, yet they have been quite happy.
Snowdrops are one of the few spring bulbs (fritillaries are another) that like to be damp and slightly shaded.
Most spring bulbs, like crocuses, irises and tulips, do best in lots of sunshine with sharp drainage, but snowdrops are flowers of the woodland edge, and they like to creep out from cover, in shade for at least some of the day and never drying out save in midsummer when they are dormant.
British gardening expert Monty Don (pictured), shared advice for snowdrops this spring
The essence of snowdrops is that they span the worlds of wild flowers and garden plants. No one seems to know whether snowdrops are native or not.
They certainly grow freely in the wild, but equally nearly all ‘wild’ snowdrops are garden escapees.
There seems to be no reference to snowdrops growing wild before 1770, and even the first garden reference is as late as 1597.
They spring up in midwinter, regardless of weather, with a freedom and abundance of bluebells, and yet they can be cultivated and treasured both individually in pots and as part of mixed planting in a border.
They will go on reliably reappearing year after year for generations.
Each year they spread a little more by seed, and the clumps increase as they create new bulbs so that in time they form the great white carpets that you can see in some of our country parks.
There are more than 350 different species and cultivars, and galanthophiles (collectors of Galanthus nivalis) are obsessive about the variations between them, even though the differences are likely to be minute markings within the flower.
Galanthus nivalis is the common snowdrop, and I love the double ‘Flore Pleno’.
It is sterile, but increases well from offsets, and because it does not produce seed, the flowers last an extra-long time.
The pollination of snowdrop seeds depends on two things: some sunny, mild weather and some insects to spread the pollen.
When the temperature rises to about 10°C, the three hanging outer petals react by lifting to the horizontal and acting as a funnel and halo to attract pollinators like the queen bumblebees that one sees buzzing around in the winter sun.
But you can speed the process up – lift a clump, divide it into three or four, replace one of the clumps in the hole you have dug and then distribute the rest further afield.
The ideal time to do this is right now, just after the flowers have faded but before the leaves begin to die back.
All the snowdrops in my own garden have been spread this way from one original clump given to me by a friend from her garden 25 years ago.
Water in the clumps well and they will immediately make themselves at home in their new position.
Not only can you expect a 100 per cent survival rate using this method, but it will also give you a good idea of how the snowdrops will look next year and enable you to plan other planting around them.
The only thing to watch for is the ground getting too dry, especially in autumn when they start to grow again, albeit underground and out of sight for another few months.
MONTY’S PLANT OF THE WEEK: TÊTE-À-TÊTE DAFFODIL
Monty chose daffodils as this week’s plant, revealing that he grows the plant in pots and then transplants them into the ground once they’ve finished flowering
This is my favourite daffodil, and one of the earliest to flower, especially when grown in a pot and given a little shelter.
It’s tiny, reaching little more than 15cm, and has a dainty nodding flower head. Tête-à-têtes last an exceptionally long time, both when growing and as cut flowers.
They spread well, and I buy new bulbs each year that I grow in pots; then, when they’ve finished flowering, I lift them and transplant them into the ground, where the leaves can slowly die back.
They will reappear the next year and form good clumps quite quickly.
THIS WEEK’S JOB: CUT BACK GRASSES
Deciduous grasses such as miscanthus, calamagrostis and deschampsia should be cut back to the ground before the new shoots appear.
With evergreens such as the stipa and cortaderia families, comb through with a rake or your gloved hands and pull out all dead growth.