Galanthus plicatus 'Diggory'

Galanthus plicatus ‘Diggory’ is one of the best snowdrops in my opinion.  ‘Diggory’ is an instantly recognisable and very well-known snowdrop.  Beautiful, large, spoon-like outer tepals with a seersucker texture to them and very well-defined claws to the base.  The inner is almost fully green, and these wonderful claws allow you to see that inner marking even when the flower is closed.  I find this snowdrop very easy to grow.  It clumps up well, and it is an absolute must for every single snowdrop collection.

‘Diggory’ was discovered in 1993 by Rosie Steele and Richard Hobbs, in a garden near Wells-next-the-Sea in Norfolk, and was named after Rosie’s late son.  The monograph gives his name as Diggory Birtles, and records that the RHS gave the plant a Preliminary Commendation when it was first shown in 1998.  Val Bourne counted it among her favourites in her talk to the Group, noting that it now holds the RHS Award of Garden Merit.  In his Norfolk talk, Brian Ellis explained that ‘Fatty Puff’ and G. plicatus ‘Yaffle’ were found and named at the same time as ‘Diggory’.

Celia Sawyer’s clump grew beside a Greatorex double, and she found two distinct seedlings that she thinks came from the pair; they became ‘Celia’s Double’ and ‘Walter’s Double’.

Sources
Some of the background here comes from Bishop, Davis & Grimshaw, Snowdrops: A Monograph of Cultivated Galanthus; Val Bourne’s talk, ‘Bourne to be a Galanthophile’ (HPS Galanthus Group, by Zoom, October 2024); Brian Ellis’s talk, ‘Snowdrops and a Norfolk Connection’ (HPS Galanthus Group Study Day, Stalham, Norfolk, February 2024); and Celia Sawyer, ‘The slippery slope to Galanthophilia’ (HPS Galanthus Group newsletter, Autumn 2023).