My name is Dan Pearson and I am a galanthaholic. It has crept up on me and now I find I have more than a hundred varieties. A small number in comparison to those who are truly addicted, but nevertheless, I am hook, line and sinkered.

My current dalliance with the named varieties started with a gift from our friend Tania Compton while we were still living in Peckham. A bundle of ‘Dionysus’, one of the best and most reliable doubles, and a couple more that didn’t survive the move to Hillside. Once here, with the prospect of more ground and the dreams that come with it, we were invited to one of Mary Keen’s snowdrop lunches and were generously gifted another half dozen varieties, each with stories of provenance and the opportunity of seeing them perform in her garden. The beautiful green leaved G. nivalis ‘Anglesey Abbey’, for instance, originally gifted to Mary by John Sales, the National Trust’s Head of Gardens, and Galanthus gracilis which, Mary explained, crosses easily and is exciting for the potential of your own seedlings one day.