A different kind of snow

Just an aside really,  not a building or local landmark mentioned in this article……just a friendly little reminder from the garden that the mood out there is lightening a bit.   
I do love a bit of winter, the skeleton trees,  the icy puddles, the rain on the roof but It’s been cold right?   Lovely to be snuggled up safe and warm inside preferably with people you like or a good book to read, or all rugged up and walking the dogs…. perfect.   Lots of snow on our horizons, the mountains surrounding us are looking fabulously smothered in the white stuff…. however that’s not the only type of ‘snow’ making an appearance.  In many of our gardens,  big and small,  young and old, those hardy little late winter warriors,  Snowdrops,  are making their way out into the world.   A reminder that winter doesn’t last forever, the sun will shine again and Spring in just around the corner. 
Early settlers imported them to decorate the land surrounding their homes, and they must have been freely available, as an article in the Otago Witness, August 1888, insists that "there is not a garden that should be without these delicate-looking flowers, either in town or country".
Flowering in late winter, a sign spring was on its way must have given the colonists relief that they'd made it through another New Zealand winter.
Snowdrops come under the family name Galanthus.  They are a Spring bulb and very easy to grow.   Plant your snowdrop bulbs under deciduous trees,   they will receive sufficient sunlight, since they bloom and begin storing nutrients before the leaves come out on trees.   Just leave them there and they will multiply and naturalise, making them an irresistible addition to the woodland garden.  
Obviously I am not the only Snowdrop enthusiast around Canterbury.  I see the annual SNOWDROP SUNDAY will be held at Terrace Station on Sunday 12th August  with visitors welcome between 11am and 3pm. Nice Idea for a Sunday drive.
Terrace Station and its 15 hectares of woodland gardens can be found at Hororata.  Follow signs from the Hororata roundabout – approx 5kms to site.  This year the snowdrops are a couple of weeks ahead of schedule but you will still see plenty as well as winter aconites and banks of hellebores, not forgetting the magnificent trees in their winter splendour.  If the day is fine, bring your picnic lunch.
Adults - $5.00 per head to the Terrace Station Charitable Trust.  Children – no charge Please note that dogs are not permitted.
Karen Rolleston