I’ve been finding out about Stroud’s links to snowdrops at The Museum in the Park
It seems that one of the Cotswolds’ newest collections of snowdrops came about thanks to a combination of luck and not a little ignorance.
Four years ago, Caroline Dicker and Ann Taylor, volunteer gardeners at Stroud’s Museum in the Park, knew little about them beyond, as Caroline recalls “There were single snowdrops and doubles.”
Then they decided to go to one of Colesbourne Park’s snowdrop study days just because they thought it sounded interesting. Home to one of the area’s best known snowdrop collections, Colesbourne regularly hosts days of lectures and tours by experts on these winter stars.
“We soon began to realise we were actually somewhere quite serious,” recalls Caroline.
What they also discovered was Stroud’s connection to the story of snowdrops.
“We were picking up the name Giant Snowdrop Company of Stroud,” says Caroline. “At that point it meant nothing to us at all.”
In fact, Stroud played an important role in the popularising of snowdrops. The Great Snowdrop Company was started in 1952 by Winifrede and Leonard Matthias who had retired to the town some years before, buying the former home of plantsman Walter Butt. They discovered the garden was full of unusual snowdrops and, with their chauffeur turned gardener Herbert Ransom, set about uncovering the overgrown garden and caring for the snowdrops.
Many of today’s most popular varieties were among those they rescued, including ‘S Arnott’ and ‘Magnet’.
The company ran until 1966 and its mail order service spread unusual snowdrops across the country, while its RHS displays won many awards, including six Lindley Medals.
Caroline and Ann decided it was a story the museum’s garden should tell and the collection began.
They were helped by local historian Jane Kilpatrick, co-author of The Galanthophiles, a history of the snowdrop collecting.
Through her the pair made contact with the Ransom and Matthias families. Both have given memorabilia to the museum, including two Lindley Medals.
In the walled garden, designed by Cleo Mussi, there are now around 30 different snowdrops. Those that were offered by the Great Snowdrop Company, are found on the terraced levels where they are at just the right height to be able to look at them closely.
Other varieties, such as ‘Hippolita’, that are not linked to the Great Snowdrop Company are gathered under a native hedge further up the garden.
“Anything that was not featured in the GSC catalogue was moved there,” explains Ann.
When I visited, most of the snowdrops were on the brink of flowering, among them ‘Brenda Troyle’, the green ‘Viridapice’, and ‘Winifrede Matthius’, one of several snowdrops named by the company.
Adding to the display were the seed heads of perennials, cyclamen, hamamelis and white-stemmed ribes.
And it’s not just the museum that now has a snowdrop collection. Both Ann and Caroline have caught the snowdrop bug and have dozens of varieties in their own gardens.
The Museum in the Park, Stroud is running a Snowdrop Celebration from 11am to 4pm on February 8 and 9. Among the activities will be a snowdrop trail for children, a talk by Jane Kilpatrick, and stalls by Avon Bulbs and The Nursery at Miserden. For more information, visit www.museuminthepark.org.uk
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