Joining The Galanthophiles!

I learned a new word this week -galanthophiles. It sounds like it ought to mean 'those who are fond of polite and noble gentlemen' - but in fact it means collectors of snowdrops. This is Snowdrop Season - and for the whole of February, you can see the snowdrops at Kingston Lacy [the National Trust property very near Ferndown]
We wrapped up warmly on Tuesday, took our coffee flasks, and joined dozens of other people strolling through the Fernery, and down the Lime Walk, all admiring these bright blossoms. It is over a hundred years since Henrietta Bankes first instructed her gardener to plant these beauties - and now there are over 40 varieties...

They are everywhere among the ferns- and in some corners you see tiny vivid pink cyclamens growing in amongst the carpet of white.

Along the Lime Walk, the golden trumpets of early daffodils are making an appearance. And round the corner, we found some huge camellia bushes with their glorious pink and scarlet blooms too, brilliant in the sparkling winter sun.

The displays are lovely- and I liked the way the gardeners had even left snowdrop poems along the way... posting these for ElizabethD, and Sue in Suffolk who I know are especially fond of this little flower!