‘Wendy’s Gold’ is a cultivar originally found in a clump of yellow G. plicatus by the mother of renowned nurseryman Joe Sharman at Wandlebury Ring near Cambridgeshire (1). It was in fact the bulb that propelled him into galanthophile-fame. Bill Clarke, the warden of the site, allowed Joe Sharman to collect the clump. Joe Sharman kept one bulb, Bill Clarke another, the Cambridge University Botanic Garden one and the remainder of the clump was sold to Dutch bulb company Geest for propagation. Unfortunately Geest lost the entire stock to Botrytis. Fortunately, the others continued to be grown, and eventually made it into the hands of many happy galanthophiles.
It is a healthy, vigorous variety, whose seedlings have given rise to additional famous cultivars. ‘Bill Clarke’ is also the name of another variety from a ‘Wendy’s Gold’ seedling, and the beautiful ‘Golden Fleece’ is in a league of its own.
A happy clump of G. plicatus ‘Wendy’s Gold’ at the Nursery of Cathy Portier in Brugge.
- Simon Garbutt. Joe Sharman’s snowdrop breeding. 2017 Daffodil, Snowdrop and Tulip Yearbook.
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