My snowdrop for Christmas

 In an obscure part of the garden one snowdrop has been flowering for the past two weeks. I moved it to our sink garden and it has opened out quite beautifully. Two flowering scapes have developed from the single large bulb. May all your scapes flower this Christmas.

It has a purity about its form I find most attractive. It could well be a seedling for it is one alone.

It stands tall and proud. Of course, the earliness of its flowering is the key feature.

Galanthus plicatus 'Three Ships' - The Christmas Snowdrop

I saw three ships come sailing in ....... My internet connection has been down for a full week, something that never hampered me once when I published my animation blog over the years. Thankfully the connection is back for Christmas Eve and so here is the first of a series of posts in which I shall track the development of my growing collection of snowdrops.

My new snowdrop, Galanthus plicatus 'Three Ships', a name suggesting the arrival of Christmas for a snowdrop that has proven a reliable flower for the festive period. Comments on a solitary and very new plant are a tad risky but it has attractively rounded petals and will, I hope, thicken up in future years. I quite fancy a pot of these on our Christmas doorstep. I would have featured "Three Ships" tomorrow but another snowdrop has sneaked in.

The inner green is very evident as are the slug pellets, something I have been forced to use in my pots due to the invasion I am experiencing in this mild winter. The beasts have turned on my collection of cyclamen though I refuse to use pellets on the open soil.

The Palm House at Kew Gardens, London, August 2003

The Palm House at Kew Gardens is a special place. Construction commenced in 1844, the design and engineering owing much to the ship building industry. It was constructed from rolled wrought iron I-beams, originally designed for ship building. Decimus Burton was the commissioning architect and Richard Burton the engineer. Our visit is way back in August 2003 with our daughter and son-in-law.

The sheer bulk of the palm house is impressive, its ship-building heritage evident as some vast upturned hull of a ship.

Traditional park landscaping seen here in high summer.

Coconuts to you.

We took lots of photographs, straining our necks top get that elusive shot.

The white ironwork is something to behold, especially the spiral staircase.

Nymphaea 'Leopardess' with floating leaves as attractive as the flowers.

The still water and the vast, saucer-like leaves made this a screen saver for my computer at the time I seem to remember.

Hodsock Priory February 19 2001

 The blog is as much for personal record as public consumption so here are some historical memories of one of our annual trips to Hodsock Priory. This time we were accompanied by my parents-in-law.

Mum and Jan explore the cascading silver catkins of Garrya elliptica

Facilities for refreshments change over the years and go full circle. This was before the showy extension hall used for a couple of years which in its turn has reverted to a rather grand marquee. Interesting how times change. Where the tent stands here (and one may just see the old swimming pool) is the extension today.

My passion for pots began here. In the pot at the back is a pale blue hepatica. I purchased one from the plant stall that day. Hepaticas are among my favourite plants.

We all marvelled at the size of the snowdrops. Passions commence with such moments.

A calming part of the garden. The aconites are these days augmented by many other spring plants but variety does not always beat single focus plantings.

This is a treasured family photograph.

Happy days.

My wife used to photograph the teddy bear wherever we or her school children went. Kids used to love borrowing the teddy,  taking in their travel photographs to show teacher. He was a much travelled fellow. Mighty fine snowdrops too.

Hellebores vary in quality. This is a beauty.

 Iris histrioides "George". And my father-in-law's name was  ..... you've guessed it. We have the variety in some abundance. George was a fantastic gardener, his gardens always neat and tidy, putting my more "natural" creations to shame. His visits inspired many a spruce up!

Galanthus "Magnet" and an object of desire. Still one of the finest varieties around and, happily, in some numbers now in my own garden.

A fine sight to warm a winter's day. White galanthus, purple and pink cyclamen coum.

Barnsdale Gardens and Daffodils at Rutland Water

We visited Geoff Hamilton's "Gardeners' World" gardens at Barnsdale on 21 March 2014 after spending an early Spring weekend at the entirely man-made and utterly lovely Rutland Water. Sadly I did not have my best camera with me but the array of different small gardens still provides inspiration many years since Geoff died in 1996. He was for me the best presenter of the BBC programme before or since.

Odd to start with sheep on a gardening blog but they really were the most distinctive ochre and, on a windswept and very cold day, a sight for red eyes.

The double Primula 'Marie Crouse' had a depth of colour that graced the gardens. I have been contemplating major surgery on our front garden rockery for some years and this, in Spring, would be a must should I summon up the energy, time and finances to commit to the project.

I sent away for this purest windflower, Anemone 'White Splendour', on my return home and actually have buds forming already in a pot, the second flowering of the corms, all without any care or attention.  My kind of plant.

Poor resolution on this photograph but a typical view of one of the suburban gardens.

Chionodoxa forbesii' Blue Giant'. I have chionodoxa that seeds itself all over the garden and particularly underneath our beech hedge. The giant form is one I have not got however.

I was once inspired by "Gardeners' World" and Adrian Bloom from Bressingham Gardens to grow conifers and heathers in some numbers. Happily the fashion has changed and with the exception of, I think, "Springwood White" I have none of the latter. Here in combination with a glorious fresh maple they look good.

Rutland Water and different drifts of narcissus on a cold bright day.

The biggest man-made lake in Europe it may be but many of life's supreme delights are hardly natural. We shall return in the Spring armed with camera numero uno.