I am delighted to report that our book The Galanthophiles - 160 years of Snowdrop Devotees – will be published by Orphans Publishing on 22nd October, 2018 (Price £45). Pre-ordering is now open and this link will take you straight to the publishers’ website:
https://www.orphanspublishing.co.uk/book/galanthophiles-160-years-snowdrop-devotees/Those of you who have attended my lectures over the years know that when I discovered how quickly even the best known gardeners are forgotten, I began to collect information about them and find photographs. In recent years, I have focused on galanthophiles and their snowdrops. My files grew and grew and I knew that all the information needed to be written up – but I am not a writer. I was extremely lucky that Jane Kilpatrick was also fascinated by the galanthophile stories I was unearthing and, after she finished her second book – Fathers of Botany (Kew 2014), she agreed to write them up.
The Galanthophiles is the first book to focus on the lives of snowdrop devotees and it covers the years 1854 to 2014 when snowdrops came of horticultural age. The names of early pioneers including James Allen, Samuel Arnott and E. A. Bowles will be familiar to fellow enthusiasts, but we have identified many other less well known galanthophiles. We have traced the descendants of several enthusiasts and have been able to draw on various family archives. The book is full of new information and includes many previously unpublished photos.
The galanthophiles shared their plants and their knowledge and it is thanks to their expertise that so many historic snowdrops survive today. The narrative includes descriptions of these snowdrops, as well as accounts of the introduction of new snowdrop species and new snowdrop variants, and provides a history of Galanthus cultivation in Britain.
Reviews
A fascinating, much-needed book that sheds fresh light on the lives of important individual galanthophiles and that brings order to the historic chaos surrounding snowdrop names. It will appeal to anyone and everyone who grows snowdrops.
Chris Brickell – Horticultural botanist and the first
Director General of the Royal Horticultural Society
This book should be on every galanthophile’s shelf.
Joe Sharman – Pre-eminent Galanthophile
