A nod to the Irish
Coosheen on the south coast of Ireland is a Mecca for snowdrop fans with a collection that emphasises the Irish cultivars
At her garden Coosheen on the south coast of Ireland Hester Forde has amassed a huge snowdrop collection that emphasises the Irish cultivars
Coosheen, a garden on the edge of Cork city in the south of Ireland, is sheltered from the salty winds whipping off the Atlantic by a boundary of beech hedging. When Hester and Paddy Forde originally moved into the chalet house there, they inherited a few apple trees and some grass – level at the back and sloping at the front. Thirty years later, the two-part garden is a multi-layered plantsman’s delight, where each plant has been selected for its form, colour or scent. Inspired by visits to the Dublin garden that formerly belonged to the author and horticulturist Helen Dillon, Hester combines bulbs with perennials, evergreens and grasses. Her passion for snowdrops has created a garden that draws you out, even on the coldest of winter days.
Where did your passion for snowdrops come from? I visited snowdrop gardens with friends who are really keen on them, and started off with Galanthus ‘S Arnott’ and a few of the more common ones. Then I was given the Irish cultivar G. ‘Cicely Hall’, and I was taken. For me, snowdrops bring the winter garden to life – I so look forward to them every year. In your garden what conditions do snowdrops fare best in? Snowdrops need good drainage; I find loamy soil, with leafmould and plenty of grit added in, is best. But I do have to play around with the planting, because snowdrops don’t always like where you put them. I’ve found that the yellows do best in our scree bed. If I get a bulb that’s new to me, and it’s expensive, I isolate it by growing it in a pond basket. That way, if I’m digging or planting later in the year, at least I hit the basket and not the bulb. I fill the basket with John Innes No. 2 or 3, with a bit of topsoil, grit and leafmould, and a sprinkle of bonemeal to give them a good start. Are there any snowdrops that cope with wetter ground? Everything drains down to the end of our front garden, so I don’t put any choice snowdrops there. But I find that both G. nivalis and G. nivalis ‘Viridapice’ cope with the wetter conditions, and multiply well. How long a flowering season do you get? I start with the autumn-flowering ‘Tilebarn Jamie’, but the first winter one is ‘Three Ships’, which is nearly always in flower on Christmas Day. ‘Castlegar’, an Irish snowdrop, follows soon after, and my last to flower is usually ‘Baxendale’s Late’, which can take me to the end of February. Any tips on how to plant snowdrops so that they look natural? I plant them in mixed groups of earlies and lates, which gives me a continuous show, among herbaceous plants, and I cull the vigorous ones every year, so that they don’t take over. I also keep the cultivars separate from each other, so that they don’t hybridise. The emerging foliage of brunneras and pulmonarias and some epimediums make a lovely foil for them, as do polypodium ferns and hellebores. Leucojum vernum and winter aconites make delightful companions for early snowdrops, as do Narcissus ‘Jack Snipe’ and Minicycla.
USEFUL INFORMATION Address 15 Johnstown Park, Glounthaune, Cork, T45CC42, Ireland. Tel +353 (0)86 865 4972. Website hesterfordegarden.com Open Coosheen is open on selected days during February. From May to September, the garden is open to groups, by appointment.
The 7th Snowdrop Gala, which Hester organises each year with Robert Miller, will take place on 3 February 2018 at Ballykealey Manor Hotel, Ballon, Co Carlow, Ireland. This year’s speakers are Graham Gough and Jim Almond.
Turn the page for 20 of Hester’s favourite snowdrops