Galanthus elwesii Hiemalis Group ‘Barnes’

One of the great pre-Christmas snowdrops, and among the earliest and most dependable members of the Galanthus elwesii Hiemalis Group. ‘Barnes’ is remarkable for flowering as early as October or November, often when the garden is still firmly in autumn rather than winter.

The flowers are substantial and well formed, with broad, rounded white outer segments and inner segments carrying a single, prominent green heart- or inverted-V-shaped mark. The blue-grey foliage is broad and strongly upright, often developing around the time of flowering. It is an exceptionally useful snowdrop for beginning the season several months before the main flush of Galanthus nivalis.

Its history reaches back to E. P. Barnes, a surgeon in Northampton, who obtained an early-flowering Galanthus elwesii from Mr Barr, probably in 1928. Barnes subsequently passed material to the great galanthophile Oliver Wyatt, who grew it at Naughton, Suffolk. A group labelled ‘Barnes’ was rediscovered at Wyatt’s former garden after 1973 and became the source of the cultivar in modern cultivation. Specialist accounts suggest that the Barnes material may have originated from the same Barr source as Wyatt’s ‘Earliest of All’, although the precise relationship between the two remains unresolved. 

The connection with Barr Nursery in 1928 is particularly fascinating: B.F. Barr Nurseries’ 1928 catalogue survives in the Biodiversity Heritage Library, although a surviving online copy does not, at present, provide conclusive evidence that this particular plant was listed there. 

A piece of snowdrop history as well as a first-rate plant — ‘Barnes’ was flowering before Christmas long before autumn snowdrops became fashionable.

• Flowering: October–November, occasionally December
• Height: c. 15–20 cm
• Spread: c. 10–15 cm, increasing to substantial clumps
• Hardiness: H6, approximately −20 to −15°C
• Group: Galanthus elwesii Hiemalis Group
• Origin: Early-flowering G. elwesii obtained by E. P. Barnes from Mr Barr, probably 1928
• Subsequent history: Passed to Oliver Wyatt; rediscovered at Wyatt’s former garden, Naughton, Suffolk, after 1973
• Nomenclature: Galanthus elwesii Hiemalis Group ‘Barnes’