Walled Garden Volunteers' Blog January 2026
/Welcome to the Walled Garden, 2026!
For us, January means ‘Snowdrops’, and much work to be done before we open the doors to share with you the Garden in Winter.
Our snowdrop story began at the very beginning of the Walled Garden; pictured below is Geoff, on 7 March 2016, planting 100 Galanthus nivalis, the ‘common’ snowdrop, in the bare ground designated to be the Stellata border - part of the overall planting design by Cleo Mussi.
Then in 2018, a visit to Colesbourne (pictured above) by Caroline and Ann sparked the discovery of the former Giant Snowdrop Company of Hyde, Stroud…and so began the collecting of snowdrops which were listed in the catalogues of the once local mail-order firm.
You can read the full Giant Snowdrop Company story on our website.
Preparation for this year’s Snowdrop Celebration began on 5 January, with the Gardeners happy to be back together. There was ice!
But we were lucky; there was also sunshine on the meadow, and we were able to tackle a patch we hadn’t been able to get to before Christmas. The Garden looked glorious in the chill, with blue skies that day. (Photos by gardener Philippa).
We’ve not been quite so lucky since then…there have been some soggy and windy days too! Hats and warm socks required, too! (Ruth made her hat with natural plant-dyed wool.)
But the Snowdrops are up! We’ll look forward to seeing you at the Museum’s Walled Garden this January - the museum re-opens on Saturday 24 January for the snowdrop celebration weekend. In the meantime, here are a few more of Philippa’s glorious photos, to tempt you in…
