AGS Snowdrop Day 2024

Saturday, 3 February 2024, 9.30 am – 4.00 pm
At Pershore College, Avonbank, Pershore,
Worcestershire, WR10 3JP.

There will be the opportunity to buy plants from specialist nurseries and to visit the AGS garden and headquarters. Tickets for lectures, plant sales, tea, coffee and buffet lunch: AGS members £35, non-members £42. Admission by advance ticket only.

Nurseries attending: Andy Byfield, Chris wiley (sustainable plant store), Edulis Nursery, Ivycroft, melvyn jope, Monksilver, Pottertons

Programme

9.30 Registration, plant sales & coffee

11.00 Welcome

11.05 MELVYN JOPE ~ ‘Galanthus and companion plants in Greece’

The talk features both spring and autumn flowering species in detail and is not just a ‘sea of white’ with companion plants ranging from Crocus to Ramonda.

Melvyn is a frequent traveller to Greece, especially at the times of year when he can indulge his passion for Galanthus and Cyclamen. He has introduced a number of selections of Galanthus.reginae-olgae, of which some of the best known are ‘Fotini’, ‘Sofia’ and ‘Eleni’. Melvyn is President of the Cyclamen Society.

12.00 JANET BENJAFIELD ~  ‘To Blewbury and Beyond’

Janet Benjafield is a retired Registered Nurse, a COVID-19 vaccinator and mother to 5 adult children. She is the RHS Yearbook section editor for snowdrops and the Administrator of the Facebook Snowdrops and Galanthophiles group. She is often seen behind the sales tables at Snowdrop events.

Janet will take us on a journey though time looking at significant snowdrop discoveries, discussing what has made them important and why. She will also look on to the present day, and into the future. She will feature a wide array of incredible selections to inspire and delight all those with an interest in snowdrops.

13.00 Lunch, plant sales, AGS garden visit

15.00 ANNE REPNOW ‘Snowdrops and Snowflops’

Anne will talk about the excitement of growing snowdrops in the garden.

Anne Repnow is an (almost) retired garden designer, who cares for her own garden in a village near Heidelberg in Germany. She studied Zoology at Oxford University then made a career in scientific publishing before now following her heart in gardening. The heat and drought of the summer months awakened Anne’s interest in winter-gardening, increasing her joy in snowdrops. She plants all snowdrops out amongst companion plants and loves taking photographs of them in this naturalistic habitat. The Covid lockdown gave her time to put together her book “Some Snowdrops – A Photographic Ramble”. Her other passion is her gravel garden, where drought resistant perennials bring colour and interest over the summer months.

16.00 Coffee and end