My First Snowdrop

Yes it may seem counter-intuitive to be talking about snowdrops in October but as we have learned in this 3rd series, snowdrops are not just for February! Emma Thick, the Snowdrop Shepherd, told us that. She explained that the earliest to flower at Thenford bloom in September and then the latest are in March/April. Now armed with that piece of information we can smile and go - ‘oh yes snowdrops in Autumn’! If you want to re-listen to Emma’s wonderful explanation about how snowdrops spread, remember the ants, then you can find it here!

It may sound ridiculous but I am always surprised and delighted when I realise that I can depart from a noisy, crowded London station - in this case Victoria and just 40 mins later alight in the beautiful countryside of West Sussex.

A short drive and I am staring at Gertrude Jekyll’s favourite pub - The Cat Inn where she would meet up with the gardener and journalist William Robinson of Gravetye. Then crossing the road to St Margaret’s church, we pass through the lynchgate, a gift from Robinson to the parish in 1923, en route to seeking out a grave of another gardener whose name is much less known.

I’m with Sam, who I met when I was volunteering at the Inner Temple. He’s got a spade and a cardboard box. Rattling around in the box are some bulbs of Leucojum aestivum ‘Gravetye Giant’ and his intention is to plant some on the grave we’ve come to see. And thus begins another plant story.

Sam has been researching his story since last December and he’s already amassed quite a number of books and articles and photographs but I am sure there is much more still to discover.

One of the things I love about his story is the starting point and I think there’s a great takeaway for all of us wherever we are on our gardening journey. Sam is a gardener at Gravetye, and his boss suggested that he should pick one plant to really ‘study’. By studying one plant - its history, its habits, how to grow it, kill it, propagate it - you’ll find you’ve learned so much more than just about that one plant.

What plant did Sam pick and why did that lead us to a grave in St Margaret’s church? All will be revealed in November!

I travelled home with 3 gifts from my day in the countryside: a bottle of apple juice, a bulb of Lecojum aestivum ‘Gravetye Giant’ and the memory of that first snowdrop of the season: Galanthus reginae-olgae ‘Eleni’. According to the RHS site other common names include autumn snowdrop. And why reginae-olgae or Queen Olga? According to galanthus.co.uk:

“In the mid 1870's, snowdrop enthusiasts were greatly excited by reports of a unique autumn-flowering snowdrop from the Taigetos mountains in the Greek Peloponnesse. Its discoverer was the Greek botanist and poet T.G. Orphanides, who named it Galanthus reginae-olgae in honour of Queen Olga of Greece. Reginae-olgae can prove tricky to cultivate and seems (with us) to appreciate a drier and sunnier spot than would be considered for most other snowdrops.”

Looking ahead to next week, Wednesday is an exciting day for Our Plant Stories. In the morning I get to go to Apple with other podcasters who’ve been nominated in the Independent podcast awards. I remember loving this last year, being in a room with so many other people who are following their passions, making a podcast in their particular niche. Then in the evening we have the awards ceremony. Keep your fingers crossed but to be honest whatever the result, its fun to be there.

And look out for a new episode on Tuesday when we take to the New York High Line - a chance to walk along an iconic urban garden in the sky, learning a few weeding tricks along the way. Next month we’ll catch up on the progress of the sky garden projects we visited last series in Manchester and London.

Have a lovely weekend

Sally

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