My receipts indicate I bought two bulbs of the Greatorex double Galanthus "Ophelia" for £3 each in February 2009 and they have been divided up around our garden ever since. "Ophelia" is early and reliable, a cross between plicatus and the double form of nivalis originating from Heyrick Greatorex in the 1940s, his snowdrops all named after Shakespeare's female characters. Were it in a hanging basket or on a banking perhaps it would be possible to see the underside petals, but mostly we view the flower from on high. Even so the green markings of the full inner petals are striking. It is, in short, a most distinctive and pretty snowdrop, definitely a lady, and beating some expensive modern forms hands down. Ophelia never spoke of snowdrops, but much on flowers: There's fennel for you, and columbines. There's rue for you, and here's some for me. We may call it herb of grace o' Sundays.... Once upon a time I used to teach "Hamlet". Sad girl, Ophelia.
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