Margaret Owen

Today is the fifth anniversary of the death of Margaret Owen, who died on this day in 2014.

Owen was an English farmer and gardener.
When she was twenty, Margaret married Godfrey Owen (he had proposed to her in a cattle shed). On their family farm, they raised four children together. They were together for 33 years.
But, when Margaret was 53 years old, Godfrey died from a brain tumor. Margaret decided to move out of the farmhouse, and she gave the farm to their son. But she had the idea of keeping an acre of land for herself to create a garden she called "the Patch."
With her focus on gardening, Margaret found herself drawn to snowdrops, and she became a galanthophile (an expert on snowdrops).
Margaret herself discovered many stunning snowdrops. She named one of the most striking after her husband - calling it the 'Godfrey Owen.' The Godfrey Owen snowdrop is a stunner. It's a double-flowered snowdrop with six outer petals and six inner segments. (Most snowdrops have just three exterior and three inner petals). Margaret also named other plants in honor of her husband. She named an Iris, a Bergenia, and a Guernsey Lily species Godfrey Owen as well.
As a plantswoman extraordinaire, Margaret is remembered by many for her "snowdrop parties" which took place on the last Saturday in February. Margaret happily hosted a who's who of English horticulture.
The day after the party, Margaret would dig up her snowdrops in the Patch and sell them to her guests and visitors. Then, she donated all the proceeds to the Multiple Sclerosis Society in honor of her sister.