In respone to AJ’s suggestion that snowdrops are now flowering we journeyed 30 minutes to East Lambrook Manor (ELM) near South Petherton in Somerset. ELM was the home of one of the influential lady gardeners, Marjory Fish, in the 1940s-50s and she was the driving force behind the poplarising of the cottage garden style. Professionally, she worked for 20 jears in Fleet Street for the Daily Mail, and saw out 6 Editors. This gave her a level of toughness in a man’s world.
In 1933 she marriied one of them, Walter Fish and later they ‘retired’ to ELM, where they did battle over the style of garden they should have. Walter wanted manicured lawns bordered by formal beds of roses and dahlias, whilst Marjorie wanted an informal (cottage) garden. Waltered died in 1947 and this left Marjory free rein to make the garden that she wanted. Plants were donated or acquired or grown from bulb or seed and thence multiplied throughout the garden. Her passion were for hellebores, snowdrops, primroses and epimediums and to show these plants off to their best she dug out a ditch that nearly divided the length of the garden.
Of course snow drops are growing throughout the garden and often planted companionably with other plants as the following photo illustrates.
Snowdrops and Winter Aconites
The garden also has a nursery where you can buy Snowdrops ranging in price from £3 upto a staggering £80 for just one flowering bulb. And no, we did not buy one!
I hope you enjoyed this little blog and if you did and are in the South Petherton area (only 4 minutes from the A303), this little gem of a garden is a joy to visit when it is open from the 1st of Feb to 31 Oct on Tuesdays to Saturday (or Sunday in February}. Check the website for full details at http://www.eastlambrook.com/pages/site.php?pgid=71
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Jayne Gough
interesting blog, thanks Paul
are snowdrop bulbs the new alternative to crypto?