How Brussels has launched a spiteful war on our glorious snowdrops and rhododendrons

This should be peak season for Joe Sharman, a man known as ‘Mr Snowdrop’ and one of the biggest growers in the country. Woodlands and front gardens are now dotted with the shimmering white flowers that the poet Wordsworth called the ‘venturous harbinger of spring’. Mr Sharman, whose customers include the Queen, sells thousands of … Read more

How Brussels has launched a spiteful war on our glorious snowdrops and rhododendrons

This should be peak season for Joe Sharman, a man known as ‘Mr Snowdrop’ and one of the biggest growers in the country. Woodlands and front gardens are now dotted with the shimmering white flowers that the poet Wordsworth called the ‘venturous harbinger of spring’. Mr Sharman, whose customers include the Queen, sells thousands of … Read more

Whether you want drifts of snowdrops, or just fancy a few of their delicate blooms

Monty revisits one of his classic books, Gardening at Longmeadow, in an occasional series.  The first batch of the snowdrops in my Spring Garden were planted 15 years ago. They were from a friend’s garden, and they’ve gradually been spreading by seed, although every few years I do lift and divide a clump or two.  … Read more