Snowdrop season is now well underway. These are in a nature reserve near Hitchin, Herts. A cottage once stood here and I should think a cottager once planted some in the garden and they have multiplied.

 Snowdrops can be said to grow wild but are generally found in the proximity of human habitation. The suggestion that they were introduced in Norman times as a symbol for Candlemass seems plausible. [see entry dated February 17th. 2017 concerning Ankerwicke Abbey]

 They can certainly naturalise when conditions are right. A stream runs beside the reserve flowing to a marshy expanse of wet woodland. There are Snowdrops along its course which I imagine may have spread from this cottage garden over time. 

 Having said that I suppose it's possible that they are a colony that pre-dates the cottage. Snowdrops may conceivably be a native of this island? 

These are the Common Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis).

 In the centre of Hitchin itself there is an area of woodland which was once part of the garden of a large house. Before that it was probably a wood that was assimilated into the grounds of the house. Snowdrops grow here in some profusion.

 These are the uncommon double flowered form Galanthus nivalis f. pleniflorus 'Flore Pleno'. Note the rather intricate ruffled inner of the flower by comparison with the single flowered G. nivalis.

 Double Snowdrops are a natural variation but since they dominate in this area it makes me think 'Flore Piano' was planted here when it was a woodland garden.