Galanthus - March 2015

[colineddie1]

Mrs _b and I were in Cumbria last weekend and were kindly allowed to view the National Collection of Snowdrops held by Margaret and David MacLennan.  Margaret and David have recently relocated their collection from its former home in rural Essex to Carlisle.  That must have been a huge task but all the snowdrops appear safe and very well indeed.  Her bulb frames, which were spread around her old garden, are now concentrated into one area in the new one.  I actually think this makes for a better display and there is certainly less leg-work required to look around.

Over the last few years Margaret has been tremendously helpful to me by acting as a “back-up” for my newly discovered snowdrops.  I have given her some bulbs as a safeguard in case something happens to my own stock and not only has she taken care of them but she has chipped one bulb of each so the overall stock is now increased.  One of the first bulbs I gave her to care for is the first nivalis inverse poc. that I found ('Kato', featured in my previous post).  Because of Margaret’s good-care and skill at chipping she now quite possibly now has more flowering bulbs of 'Kato' than I do!

You are very lucky Alan - do you know if they open the collection to general public or in our case crazy snowdrop lovers - it is certainly a lot closer than Shaftesbury or Myddleton - lol?

[Alan_b]

If you hold a National Collection you are required to allow visitors in to view your collection - under circumstances that fit the convenience of the collection-holder.  When they were in Essex the MacLennans entertained a few groups each year but not, generally, individual visits.  I imagine it will be the same now they are in Carlisle.  So if you are in a club or society where the members might have an interest in snowdrops, see if you can persuade them to mount a group visit.