Galanthus reginae-olgae subsp. reginae-olgae 'Melvyn Jope'

Galanthus reginae-olgae subsp. reginae-olgae ‘Melvyn Jope’ is a lovely snowdrop, with large outer segments that to me are slightly textured, and flowers that seem quite large for the size of the plant.  It has a nice inner marking like an inverted ‘U’.  The ovary is slender and green, and as with all of the autumn-flowering subsp. reginae-olgae, the flowers appear before the leaves.  Here in the North West it usually flowers in late October.

Freda Cox records that it was Joe Sharman who named this snowdrop after Melvyn Jope.  Melvyn himself brought several lovely G. reginae-olgae selections into cultivation.  I had heard it said, in general snowdrop chat over the years, that Melvyn named his snowdrops after people he met in Greece, and Brian Ellis has confirmed that this was something he was aware of too.  They were named after people who helped Melvyn in Greece for various reasons, whether landowners, people who told him where snowdrops might be found, those who helped with his permissions to export the bulbs, or others who were helpful on his trips.

Melvyn is someone I corresponded with by email in his later years, and I really wish I’d had the opportunity to meet him in person.  I had been looking forward to meeting him at the Alpine Garden Society Snowdrop Day at Lilleshall in early February 2025, where he was due to be selling plants with John Fielding, and I was selling plants too.  Unfortunately, Melvyn had been taken ill and wasn’t able to attend.  I talked about him with John that weekend, who was a good friend of his, and sadly Melvyn passed away not long afterwards.  He was very free and generous with his knowledge, and gave me some great tips when I asked his advice about possibly visiting Greece during the season to see these beautiful plants in the wild.  I still keep his emails, and I hope to put his advice into action one day, when I finally get round to visiting the Peloponnese and Corfu, as per Melvyn’s recommendations, at the peak flowering time for G. reginae-olgae.

Sources
Some of the background here comes from Freda Cox, A Gardener’s Guide to Snowdrops; Brian Ellis (by email, October 2026).