Walled Garden Volunteers' Blog February 2025

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By 3pm on Friday 24th January, we had done all we could: The snowdrops in the meadow had had a tidy- up, and the bank; the Snowdrop bunting, stitched by Marion and Carroll to a tight deadline, was in position...

We were ready to open for the Snowdrop Celebration!

Saturday 25th January was a lovely sunny day. Even Galanthus ‘Grumpy’ was looking cheerful in the Walled Garden sunshine!

And our display representing the Snowdrops which were sold by the Giant Snowdrop Co. of Hyde were looking very good, despite it being January and quite early in the Snowdrop calendar.

Pictured above is an illustration  by Walled Garden Artist in Residence  and Gardener Ruth Illingworth, who demonstrated her prints and dyes over the weekend. Ruth makes dyes using flowers and leaves mostly from the garden.

Now it is mid-February and our snowdrops are at their best. Do come and see!

This year we welcomed Old Court Nurseries and Picton Gardens of Colwall, Malvern, to our Snowdrop Event. Ross and Hugh are pictured below setting up their stall in the sunshine of Saturday. 

…But on Sunday, we retreated indoors as the rain poured down! All was not lost though, Helen Picton inspired us all with a wonderful talk on Old Court Nurseries, their snowdrop collection, and ideas for winter colour.

In the Garden, we put our Special Snowdrop Family Trail Fairies under shelter. Inspired by the names of some special snowdrops in our collection, local artist Corinne Hockley has created this unique ‘trail’ for us for the Event, with 12 named snowdrops.

Here on the left, see ‘Titania’ staying dry at the auricula theatre. And Galanthus “Elfin’ on the right…

 And then we discovered that one of Our Fairies was missing!

Snowdrop ‘Lady Beatrix Stanley’ (shown here with her tiara and beautifully made by Corinne) is named after the British aristocrat, horticulturist and botanical artist.

We have searched, to no avail. Did Lady B go off partying on the Saturday night? We want her to Return. Someone must know where she is! She needs to come home.

The following day, there were a few more jobs to be done of course – that’s gardening for you!