Snowdrop Gala 2025 at Ballykealey House

14th Annual Gala on Saturday 25th January 2025

The annual Snowdrop Gala – Celebrating Snowdrops and Other Spring Treasures – at Ballykealey House, Ballon on Saturday January 25th 2025 celebrates its 14th anniversary this year and has become a firm favourite with lovers and enthusiasts of this special flower. This year’s programme features lectures by Keith Wiley (UK), author, and owner and creator of Wildside, Devon, who talks on “Wildside – Gardening on a Different Plane” . Callum Hallstead (Scotland), senior gardener at Cambo Gardens and curator of a national collection of snowdrops at Cambo promises a fascinating talk on “Life After Snowdrops – Celebrating the Snowdrop at Cambo and Knowing How to Move on”. Tickets include morning tea and afternoon tea, lunch, lectures and plant sales at Altamont plus a tour of the snowdrop collection at Altamont Gardens.

Following lunch the afternoon includes a full guided tour of Altamont Gardens and a Specialist Plants Sale in Altamont Plant Sales featuring snowdrops from Altamont Plants with Avon Bulbs Collection, Cold Blow Nursery (Claire Beumer), Assumpta Broomfield, Rosabell Plant Supports and Esker Farm Daffodils (Dave and Joules Hardy).

Speakers:
Keith Wiley (UK) –  “Wildside -Gardening on a different Plane”. Owner and creator of Wildside, Devon, author, and TV appearances.

Callum Hallstead (Scotland) – “Life After Snowdrops-Celebrating the Snowdrop at Cambo and Knowing how to move on”. Senior gardener at Cambo Gardens and curator of a national collection of snowdrops at Cambo.

Early bird tickets available until January 10th at €120. Tickets purchased after 10th are €130
(Please note, the final date for ticket sales is January 17th, 2025).
Tickets include morning tea & afternoon tea, lunch, lectures, and plant sales at Altamont, plus, a tour of the snowdrop collection at Altamont Gardens.

-Payments by PayPal via sales@altamontplants.com.
-For online tickets, visit: https://altamontplants.digitickets.co.uk/tickets.
-Credit Card- contact Robert Miller on 087-9822135 (if no reply, please leave a voice message with
name and number).

Snowdrop Gala 2025 14th Annual Gala Meet the Lecturers!

Callum Halstead

Callum Halstead has been a senior gardener at Cambo since August 2021. As well as looking after Cambo’s National Collection of snowdrops, he is responsible for the maintenance and ongoing development of Cambo’s woodland plantings.

Callum has drawn inspiration from Dan Pearson’s multi-layered woodland plantings as well as Sarah Price’s approach to naturalistic planting and her use of colour in the garden. Callum’s current garden hero is John Little. Callum studied at Edinburgh Royal Botanics gaining the Elizabeth Hess Scholarship which funded a year-long work placement at Tresco Abbey. Beryl Mc Naughton (Macs Plant Nursery) was a big influence in his interest in snowdrops and the first snowdrop he bought was Galanthus ‘Merlin’ and the most recent Galanthus ‘Dryad Gold Charm’
Callum’s Lecture ‘Life after Snowdrops – celebrating the snowdrop at Cambo and knowing how to move on’.

Cambo, known for its N. American prairie and substantial Oudolf- inspired plantings, is also home to a National Collection of snowdrops. These can be seen in various parts of the garden for nearly 6 months of the year. Callum has cared for the collection since 2021 and has worked to improve the winter garden in which the snowdrops sit in this lecture. Callum will discuss Cambo’s snowdrops and showcase some of the collections top performers. Using designs recently replanted section of the garden he will also discuss his approach to designing beds that afford the snowdrops their moment in the spotlight while also offering year-round seasonal interest after their blooms have faded.

Keith Wiley

After obtaining an honours degree in horticulture, Keith spent 25 years as head-gardener at the Garden House in Devon, where he evolved a style of gardening based on modifying natural landscapes from around the globe. The garden he created was described by national commentators as ‘one of
the most exciting and innovative gardens in Britain today’ and the best example of ‘leading-edge horticulture’ in the UK.

Keith has been a regular contributor to horticultural/lifestyle magazines and has appeared on many gardening television programmes in the UK. In 2004, the Wiley’s left the Garden House to create a new garden, Wildside, from a bare field that has since featured on several TV programmes as well as many other magazines. Wildside has been hailed as ‘a tour de force’ (Telegraph), ‘the most exciting and innovative garden in Britain today’ (Gardens Illustrated) and ‘the most inspirational garden in the world’ (Jimi Blake).

Keith has written three books and has lectured widely all over the world. Keith’s Lecture: ‘Wildside – Gardening on a different plane’, exploring how the landforms have been manipulated at Wildside to create different habitats for plants and how this in turn changes how we view and interpret them. This shaping of the ground and of the plants themselves is especially relevant in the winter months when spring bulbs in particular can easily be seen close-up growing in natural-looking conditions.

Chris Ireland Jones – Friday Night Lecture (After Dinner)

‘A working life at Avon Bulbs’
Chris Ireland Jones is the former owner of Avon Bulbs from 1987 – 2024. Avon Bulbs, well-known for its award-winning displays at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show offered a range of stunning bulbs and plants for all seasons. Their shows at Vincent Square, the snowdrop displays, were legendary.