Great Comp Garden may be shut this time of year – but opens for just one day to share its winter secrets.

The Snowdrop Sensation plant fair this weekend is a rare opportunity to buy choice snowdrops and to see delicate displays in one of west Kent’s finest gardens.

Created in the 1950s by Roderick Cameron and curated by salvia expert William Dyson, it is one special day to seek out some sensational snowdrops.

The event attracts galanthophiles – fans and collectors of snowdrops – from across the county and beyond.

One woman who knows all about the pull of the precious winter flower which, some years, peeps through the snowfall to remind us spring is on its way, is Val Bourne.

The award-winning garden writer, however, reveals she would have laughed at the idea of becoming an expert in the delicate blooms before she was bitten by the bug.

She said: “If anyone had told me 20 years ago, when I thought all snowdrops were the same, that I would become a full-blown galanthophile I would have scoffed at the very idea. However I have been sucked into the snowdrop vortex.

“I was given seven snowdrops from the late Primrose Warburg’s garden in spring 1997. I made them labels like tombstones and they were all different. Then I then started to collect more plants and get to know more galanthophiles... and within five years I was hooked on them.

“They make February special.”

Now she’s a full-on fan.

“So much so that late January and February are a whirl of activity. I’ve had some very amusing moments, made a lot of friends, one to two enemies no doubt, and acquired some lovely snowdrops.”

She will be giving a lecture at Great Comp, The Snowdrop Vortex – One Woman’s Obsession With The White Stuff. “Snowdrops arouse strong passions and this talk explains my obsession,” she said.

The hands-on gardener and committed plantaholic gardens at Spring Cottage in the wind-swept Cotswolds, high above Bourton-on-the-Water in Gloucestershire, where she has a third of an acre. Her garden is managed without using chemicals – something she is a great believer in.

Her talk is a short history followed by some of the best varieties for the garden, plus plenty of anecdotes about snowdrop growers, who she freely admits, are an eccentric bunch.

Great Comp’s curator William Dyson said: “Our Snowdrop Sensation plant fair featuring specialist snowdrop nurseries has proved to be a really popular one-off date for us. It’s quite amazing how many “galanthophiles” there are “out there” and quite how far they’ll travel to buy and view rare and wonderful snowdrop bulbs.”

The plant fair runs from 10am to noon, with the garden staying open until 4pm.

A variety of snowdrop specialists and winter bulb specialists will be selling their bulbs on site.

DETAILS

Great Comp Garden’s Snowdrop Sensation runs from 10am to noon on Sunday, February 19.

Val Bourne’s lecture will be at 11.30am at The Stables Theatre. There are limited tickets available.

Great Comp Garden is in Borough Green, Sevenoaks, TN15 8QS. For details call 01732 885094 or go to greatcompgarden.co.uk

Snowdrops at Hever Castle.