THE rarification of snowdrops continues. Unusual snowdrops with hints of gold or splashes of green make very high prices, but big business has not yet cottoned onto producing these collectors' treasures. It's a cottage industry and Anne Wright in York, sole owner and breeder of Dryad Nursery, has been quietly getting on with creating some of the most covetable flowers around. A botanical artist with a degree in biology, she was brought up in a family of gardeners and found that by selling plants she could earn a useful income without leaving home.
Miniature narcissus are her first love she still has 14,000 little daffodils that have to be repotted every year-but she began crossing snowdrops in 2006, with the aim of developing yellow hybrids with more vigour than any bulbs available at the time. Yellow colouring does occur in the wild, pollinated by bees rather than by a methodical plants person. I'm not waiting for the bees,' Mrs Wright says, but even hand pollination involves a long wait. From seed sowing to bulb selling takes about nine years, but, by crossing two different snowdrop species, nivalis and plicatus, she knew that her plants would have more vigour. Her first cross was with "Wendy's Gold' and sandersii, from which she had some useful and exciting results.
Ordinary gardeners plant snowdrops in the ground and reckon to increase them by division, but chipping the bulbs is a faster and more reliable way for the expert. Chipping a snowdrop bulb is done in the early summer when bulbs are dormant, usually in the first weeks of June. Amateur gardeners can try it, but should know that this meticulous work must be done in sterile conditions.
Denne historien er fra January 03, 2024-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra January 03, 2024-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery
