Nearly 20 years ago, a parcel arrived out of the blue at the Peckham home of Dan Pearson. The unexpected gift from fellow garden designer Tania Compton contained two snowdrop plants: “Hippolyta”, a double with a ruffled petticoat of green and white petals, and the robust single “Galatea”. They sparked a “madness”, he says. “I’m not somebody who starts collections of things but they just got me. It’s a horribly slippery slope.”
Today the garden of Pearson’s home in Somerset, Hillside, is strewn with more than 100 varieties come midwinter. An informal snowdrop walk runs along the hedge lines above the farmhouse down to a stream at the bottom of the property. His favourites include the “special and distinctive” “Diggory”, whose puckered petals resemble seersucker fabric, and the elegant yellow “Spindlestone Surprise”.
Galanthus “Dionysus” in Dan Pearson’s Somerset garden © Huw Morgan
Summerill & Bishop Cracked Bud vase
Price: £24.95
