Heritage Collection
How it started
February 2014 saw the launch of the Shaftesbury Snowdrops Heritage Collection.
As part of our snowdrop legacy project, we wanted to bring together Galanthus species, hybrids and their cultivars to be held in trust in Shaftesbury for the enjoyment of locals and visitors during the Shaftesbury Snowdrop Season. And so, our Heritage Collection was launched.
Community project
The Heritage Collection began as a true community project, with a team of volunteers maintaining the bulbs in gardens throughout the town. By spreading out the collection in this way, we were able to maximise public involvement and minimise risk to the collection of loss through disease or damage.
Volunteers cared for and propagated the snowdrops in the collection to ensure that in time we would have bulbs of each donated variety growing in several secure sites.
In 2018, through the generosity of a local family and with the Support of BV Dairy, we established a small snowdrop nursery in the town centre.
The future
We tended the Heritage Collection in our small Shaftesbury nursery for many years. However, to preserve and grow the collection, after much thought and consultation, we made the decision to move our precious bulbs to the lovely Springhead Trust, who were delighted to receive the collection. At Springhead they have been planted out and nurtured by their dedicated gardening team. The snowdrops can be seen at Springhead on their open days during the snowdrop season.
If you would like to sponsor or donate a snowdrop variety please contact the Snowdrop team at info@springheadtrust.org.uk
Heritage Collection photographs are courtesy of/copyright Rachel Diment.
