People often ask me, out of all the snowdrops we grow, which is my favourite snowdrop.
With so many species and cultivars, how on earth do you begin to choose?
Do you glibly say “the one I am looking at”?
Do you reel off a long list drawn from every type – “this is my favourite double”… “This is my favourite yellow one”… “This is my favourite autumn flowering one”… – I think the source of the question will be nodding off before you get to the end of your list.
Is the answer drawn from one of the ones I grow, or do I choose one I that I would love to possess?
Do I go for a species, because by default, it can be seen to cover all cultivars derived from it?
If I’m standing in my garden, showing a gardening group round, do I make my life simple and choose one of the ones I’m standing next to so that it is close at hand to show them, rather than at the other end of the garden?
Let’s face it, it is an almost impossible task!
Well almost, but then one particular snowdrop very obligingly, and mostly by luck, provided me with a photograph that I love. The flower was perfect, the light was right and the backdrop colours soft, muted and somewhat romantic. So for no other reason than this, Galanthus “Peardrop” is my favourite snowdrop… well for now…
