Sandwich Snowdrop Tea

10 years ago

Each year the Thornton Burgess Society runs a fundraiser for their Shirley Cross Wildflower garden in Sandwich, MA. This involves the opening of the private garden of Jonathan and Eugenie Shaw for a garden tour and an afternoon tea. Jonathan is a gardener who has been collecting and growing Snowdrops for 45 years. His garden is an outstanding example of an early Spring garden with lots of hellebores, crocuses, and of course snowdrops.

Here's the link in case anyone is interested. http://capecodmuseumtrail.com/event/snowdrop-tea/

I went on Thursday and although it was cloudy the rain held off and I was able to get some photos. I hope you like them.

This enormous clump started from two bulbs many years ago, these have been dug and divided many many times.. It is a hybrid called S. Arnott, sometimes you will see it listed for sale as Sam Arnott. It's highly fragrant.

This is an Elwesii seedling that Jonathan found and named for the namesake of the Burgess Wildflower Garden. So it's called Galanthus 'Shirley Cross'. I was fortunate enough to win a bulb of this one in the silent auction.

This is the root flare of one of the largest Metasequoia's I've ever seen. As big as the one at the Arnold. A nice companion plant for this large planting of snowdrops.

This is a cultivar called Flights of Fancy.

Iris reticulata 'Harmony' a very blue cultivar.

Hellebore 'Quilty'

A planting of Eranthis hyemalis (Winter Aconite) and early crocus.

A very civilized way to spend an early Spring afternoon.

Steve

Featured Answer

moliep

10 years ago

Steve, thanks for posting these great photos. Ever since your original posting in "Show us your gardens.. March 2016", I've been curious about this event and the auction. And, again, you provided more great resources for finding Galanthus bulbs and plants here in the US.

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Comments (6)

chervil2
10 years ago
Thanks for sharing. This looks like a wonderful place to visit.
barrett001
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
What a wonderful post, Steve!

I love snowdrops! ...for the fact that they're the first of the spring blooms to grow right through the receding snow, and also for their delicate gallantry. I never noticed them when I was growing up in America--maybe there weren't many growing around my area of the northeast then. But when we moved overseas to England they were absolutely everywhere! I wonder, are Galanthus more valued over there because the usual personal gardens tend to be smaller than here in the USA?

Anyway, as soon as we moved back to this country I searched out snowdrops to plant. I've got some growing well now, but I wish the bulbs were easier to find....
Steve Massachusetts thanked barrett001
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User
10 years ago
It must have been a lovely day for it!
Steve Massachusetts
Original Author
10 years ago
Barrett, the regulations for phytosanitary certificates and CITES (preventing the collection of wild species for export) have made acquiring bulbs in the US quite difficult. There is one online nursery who has taken the lead in overcoming these obstacles and shipping to the U.S. Here's the link:

http://www.cornoviumsnowdrops.co.uk/ourshop/

They still have some bulbs available, but only take orders through March 30th.

In the US try Brent and Becky's. They are starting to get more varieties but their bulbs come from Holland and are often smaller and take longer to increase. A better US source is Far Reaches Farm in Port Townsend, Washington. FRF is a great all around online nursery.

Good luck in your search.

Steve
barrett001
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Wow, Steve, I didn't quite realize how difficult it is to find Galanthus here in the US! I think I was lucky to find the bulbs I did at a local church plant sale several years ago. This was the kind of sale where church members dig up their own plants and sell them. A gent in his 80s originally from eastern Europe was selling several pots chock full of the bulbs, and I bought every single one he had.

We had a long conversation about snowdrops. He was surprised I knew all about them until I said I'd lived in Europe. He'd watched lots of plant sale customers pass them by because they had no blooms.... He said he'd brought his first Galanthus bulbs long ago from his home country.