Carpet baggers
LOUISA PEARSON
At this time of year it's easy to feel the great outdoors is best viewed from the comfort of your armchair. Days that start off mild and spring-like can quickly turn ferocious, leaving you wondering if you're living in Scotland or Siberia. But while the timid among us are cowering indoors, there's new life bursting through the soil, begging to be noticed. This year, the first ever Scottish Snowdrop Festival runs from 1 February to 11 March, in part to celebrate the delicate flower but also to encourage the population to get outdoors and find out what our parks and gardens have to offer during winter.
More than 50 gardens across the country are taking part, from Traquair House to the Birks of Aberfeldy, showcasing snowdrops in both formal and wild settings.
The genus name for snowdrops is Galanthus, derived from the Greek gala meaning milk and anthos meaning flower. Despite its demure appearance, it's a plant that's steeped in history, myth and legend. Botanist Alan Bennel of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh describes one such tale: "It's said that Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden in winter and Eve was despairing as snow fell all around them. She was reassured by an angel who said, 'Don't worry, after winter spring will come, have hope.' The angel touched some of the falling snowflakes and these turned into snowdrops."
Regardless of how you view the accuracy of this particular tale, the idea that snowdrops offer hope of better things to come still holds true today.
Our common snowdrop is Galanthus nivalis, but there are around 20 recognised species that are native to an area stretching from southern Europe to western Asia. Although it was once thought the snowdrop was native to Britain, Bennel says nobody really believes that now. "Any really long-established populations almost always turn out to have been adjacent to an old monastery or maybe to a garden with a long history, where they'd have been imported from Europe," he says.
The monastic connection concerns Candlemas. Falling on 2 February, the feast of the purification of the Virgin coincided with the peak flowering time for snowdrops, and these flowers soon became known as an emblem of purity. While snowdrops were being actively cultivated at monasteries, they escaped and semi-naturalised in wet woodlands and along riverbanks.
Many of Scotland's great gardens love to showcase their snowdrops. At Dawyck Botanic Garden, near Peebles, the banks of the Scrape Burn are covered in the flowers, making it almost look like snowfall. Cambo Estate in Fife has 70 acres of woodland carpeted in snowdrops, snowflakes and aconites. The estate is also home to Catherine Erskine's acclaimed nursery which specialises in snowdrops. To coincide with the festival, Cambo will be hosting special events such as an art exhibition, photography workshop and guided snowdrop walks.
Other historic settings with plenty of snowdrops to enjoy include Culzean Castle in Ayrshire, Ardgowan Garden at Inverkip and Floors Castle in Kelso.
For those used to buying their plants from a nursery, it might come as a surprise to learn that many of the varieties of snowdrop found in Scotland were brought here by soldiers returning from war. "It was well known that the campaigns in the Caucasus in the Crimea were the source of a number of introductions," says Bennel. "Bulbs are quite easy to transport - you can dry them down and carry them with you - although we wouldn't encourage anyone to do that today."
In terms of growing snowdrops in your own garden, Bennel says they can be slightly choosy about where they thrive. He says that in the heyday of the great estates, the drifts of snowdrops found in the woodlands looked so appealing that many owners decided they also wanted to have them planted on terraces or lawns near the house. But in some of those places, they just wouldn't perform.
"The snowdrop will grow where it wants to," he says. "I grow them on the fringes of my rockery where there are a couple of trees overhanging and they seem to come up quite successfully there. It doesn't hurt to have a little warmth in the soil and the ones at the front of my house which is south-facing are blooming a bit earlier. If you choose a few different localities in your garden you can have a nice succession."
Specialist nurseries tend to sell snowdrops "in the green". This means that, rather than buying bulbs in the autumn, you buy plants that have already flowered but which still have their green leaves. These need to be planted as quickly as possible and they should soon establish well. Bennel says a key advantage of planting in the green is that, as your other bulbs will have already emerged, you'll be able to see the best places to plant your snowdrops.
"Another advantage is that while the plant still has some vegetative growth it's taking that growth and storing it back in the bulb, which will help it establish ready for a good consistent performance the following winter," he says.
Once your snowdrops get established, you can lift and divide clumps after flowering, soon ending up with many more than you originally planted.
It might seem slightly odd that a flower which appears to be so dainty can survive the cold winter weather. But the snowdrop has a trick up its sleeve. Bennel explains that at night and through to sunrise, each single flower on the standard snowdrop closes up. Experiments have shown that the temperature inside the closed petals is approximately two degrees warmer than the temperature outside, protecting the plants during that critical period. It seems there's a lot more to snowdrops than meets the eye.
If you follow the Candlemas tradition and bring some into the house, you'll even find they have a soft, honeyed fragrance. So whatever you do this winter, don't ignore them. "Snowdrops are like jewels in a stark landscape," says Bennel. "People should get out and enjoy them because if you wait until true spring has dawned, you'll have missed them."
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