Galanthus 'Fieldgate Prelude'

Galanthus ‘Fieldgate Prelude’ - A hybrid snowdrop which I believe has elwesii in its genes.  It is reliably in flower by Christmas every year for me here in the North-West and has a nice long flowering period throughout January and sometimes even into February.  It is a selection from the late Colin Mason and is extremely vigorous.  I have three large clumps of it and I love it.  I have a good number of the other ‘Fieldgate’ snowdrops.  I like them all because they are all very unique and very easily identifiable.  ‘Fieldgate Prelude’ has a lovely inner marking in a relatively thin inverted ‘V’ at the sinus and a faded marking covering the rest of the inner segment to the base.  There aren’t a huge amount of snowdrops that flower so early in the season and, for that reason, and the fact that it is a very attractive, robust and vigorous snowdrop, I feel like it is a must for every collection.   I love to see ‘Fieldgate Prelude’ in full bloom, as I then know the rest of my main-season snowdrops are getting ready to burst into flower and the main snowdrop season is almost upon us.