Snowdrops highlight this small perennial meadow planting this winter’s end in my Amsterdam trial garden. Following cold wintery nights there is much still to be enjoyed in a garden dominated by perennials.
Galanthophiles are gardeners obsessed with snowdrops. I adore these spritely early bulbs but the collector’s bug has never caught me. I have trialled many of the prized cultivars and in truth find them too similar to get excited about. Galanthus ‘S. Arnott’ has proven to be invaluable. Price-wise it is affordable and the plants are well proportioned and grow vigorously. I split up the clumps two years ago and already I have them spread across a sizeable area of this border and the one adjacent to it. As a designer I need plants to make an impact and in late winter when the perennials have been cut down and we anticipate their reemergence, sheets of snowdrops are more than welcome. S. Arnott is my go to snowdrop.
After snow, we had a glorious week of warmth and sunshine. That was the moment I grabbed to cut everything down in the garden in anticipation of spring. What remained was a fresh open canvas, but also some plants with evergreen foliage.
The arrival of frost brings what remains into focus. Evergreen ferns such as this Polystichum aculeatum and the persistent foliage of Epimedium x rubrum were worthy of a photograph.
