Looking to start a snowdrop collection, or expand an existing one? Here, Galanthus authority Matt Bishop recommends a selection of garden-worthy snowdrops for beginners, experienced growers and serious collectors.
For beginners
I would recommend choosing varieties that can reasonably be told apart, are dependable garden plants, and can be had for a few pounds each. You can then buy bulbs in multiples and quickly bulk up your collection. Suggested cultivars:
‘S. Arnott’
‘Bertram Anderson’
‘Sibbertoft Magnet’
‘Comet’
‘Wendy’s Gold’, an excellent easy yellow snowdrop
‘Hippolyta’
‘Hill Poë’ for its regularity (above left)
‘Blewbury Tart’ for its upward-facing green rosettes
‘Faringdon Double’ for earliness
‘Lady Elphinstone’ for its yellow markings
‘Walrus’ for its amazing spidery green segments (left)
For the more experienced snowdrop grower
‘Trym’
‘Trymposter’ (super-vigorous)
‘Kildare’
‘Percy Picton’ with its nice inner markings
‘Diggory’ (left), rightly a classic. No collection is complete without it!
‘Ronald Mackenzie’, a delightful G. gracilis hybrid with bright yellow 
markings (below left)
‘Big Boy’ is aptly named for its enormous flowers
‘Modern Art’ is a quirky stalwart with green markings
Forced to choose just one double I would have ‘Ailwyn’, which combines the broad grey leaves of G. elwesii with arguably the most perfectly-formed double flowers in the genus.
For serious collectors
Everyone has a dream list of cultivars they would like to grow one day.
A visit to a friend’s garden in Germany left me covetous of a brand new kind of yellow where the inner segment marking begins green and then, after a couple of days, changes to bright egg-yolk yellow! Then there are the amazing ‘Scharlokii’ derivatives from Belgium, not to mention G. plicatus ‘E.A Bowles’. The list goes on.....