Diarmuid Gavin: A chance to visit a priceless Irish snowdrop collection

I have a friend who’s a gardening version of Eoin McLove…let’s call him Paul. And Paul is lovely. But what makes him as seductive as Eoin McLove to certain plantaholics is that Paul is a galanthophile guru. A galanthophile is an enthusiastic collector and identifier of snowdrops. And Paul is Ireland’s best.

To be fair, snowdrops are amazing. They flower in mid-winter when little else does and they’re the most resilient of plants. In cold spells, snowdrops sometimes collapse — only to resurrect themselves once the temperature rises.

They have in-built ‘anti-freeze’ proteins which help stop ice crystals forming, protecting plant cells from damage. And perhaps more remarkably, their leaves have hardened tips to help them break through frozen soil. Although they’re now common across Ireland, the snowdrop originally came from central and Eastern Europe.

Galanthomania dates from the 1850s, when soldiers brought bulbs back from Crimea sparking a ‘White Fever’. A large part of their charm is that the mainly white flowers have been cross-bred, creating many ‘must have’ varieties. Despite there being only 20 species in the genus, more than 2,500 cultivars have been introduced. And new varieties are not cheap. In 2012, the seed firm Thompson and Morgan bought two bulbs of a new cultivar called ‘Elizabeth Harrison’ for £725. Each. One died, the other was stolen. Perhaps maximum snowdrop mania was reached in February 2022 when a single bulb of Galanthus plicatus ‘Golden Tears’ was sold for £1,850.

So, back to Paul. As a young gardening student, he spent time training in Bellefield, a garden in Tipperary owned by Angela Jupe. She was remarkable — an architect, landscape architect, retailer, researcher, historian and gardener. She was passionate about snowdrops, and that love spread to Paul. He left Ireland for a plant nursery in Wiltshire, where he was responsible for recording and organising a huge snowdrop collection. Months were spent chopping up bulbs — practising a dark art known as twin scaling — creating 50,000 snowdrops!

A few years later, Paul returned to Ireland where, one Friday evening at 5pm, Angela called. Could Paul meet her in Rosslare at 8pm? Angela was on a mission. They took the ferry to Pembroke, arriving at midnight, drove straight to London and landed at the site of a snowdrop sale at 6am. They joined the queue at 7am and doors opened to a baying crowd of galanthophiles at 10am.

It’s easy to spot galanthophiles. They’re primarily middle-aged, middle-class women who’ve no sense of comfort. At this time of the year, you’ll find them in packs in gardens sitting on wet grass, marvelling at green or yellow markings on these tiny flowers. Angela, with no time for niceties, elbowed her way through to the front with a list.

Among her conquests were: Galanthus ‘Dopey’, which has particularly nice lime-green colours and apparently a very lazy habit; Galanthus ‘South Hayes’ — discovered in an English garden in 1992, its petals curve inwards; Galanthus ‘Spindlestone Surprise’ is yellow due to its lack of chlorophyll; and Galanthus ‘Cowhouse Green’, a beautiful snowdrop with very pale-green lines and diffuse shading on the outer segments.

Galanthophiles don’t trust what they’re being sold and possibly don’t trust each other. They buy their bulbs when they’re in flower — when they’re paying €80 or €90 per plant, they want be sure of what they’re getting.

On her death in 2022, Anglea left Bellefield, with its collection of snowdrops, to the Royal Horticultural Society of Ireland, and Paul became head gardener. And realising the value of the collection, Paul locked the gates, took away the name tags and replaced them with codes. Because without the names, the flowers were worthless. But we can all visit because Paul is hosting Snowdrop Weekend at Bellefield from February 8-11. Galanthophiles and civilians are welcome.

Plant of the week

Narcissus ‘February Gold’ St Brigid’s Day on February 1 marks the beginning of spring in the traditional Gaelic calendar, and while meteorological spring starts in March, there are already some hints in the air. One of the earliest daffodils to flower is the aptly named ‘February Gold’. The bright golden-yellow flowers are ideal for both window boxes and containers as well as naturalising in as yet uncut grass or borders. Plant lots of these bulbs in autumn in sun or partial shade and in moist, well-drained soil.

Reader Q&A

I have a lovely old hydrangea with very big flower heads but it needs moving as we are building a garden wall. Is it possible to relocate it? Do they have long roots? Una

The dormant season is from November to March, and that’s the best time to move deciduous trees and shrubs. As your hydrangea has lived in the same spot for decades, the root system will be big but not necessarily that deep. Your aim is to minimise root disturbance as much as possible so dig a circumference around a foot away from the stem and dig up as much of the rootball intact as possible. Prepare a new hole with the addition of well-rotted manure or compost and replant your shrub. Keep it well watered during the growing season while the root system establishes itself.

Submit your gardening questions to Diarmuid via his Instagram @diarmuidgavin using the hashtag #weekendgarden