Moorcroft Pottery The Botanist 159/8

No one could fail to love the simple charm of this late winter beauty, the snowdrop.  To botanist, John Gerard, writing in 1597, it was the ‘Timely flowring Bulbus violet’ while an older English name was ‘candlemas bells’, a nod to its early flowering habitat at Candlemas, six weeks after Christmas. 

Irises are much loved as a flamboyant summer flower, but there are also winter irises that bloom during cooler periods as seen in Rachel Bishop’s design. This flowerbed erupts with the colour of irises and the softness of snowdrops as the ground softens and makes way for another year of life.