Fritillaries Aren’t Fussy

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30919, 27 November 1965, Page 24

Fritillaries Aren’t Fussy

The name Fritillaria has an interesting origin and the plants which bear it have had some amusing common names.

The botanical name is said to have been derived from its supposed likeness to the squares on a chess board, or “fritillus” as it was called in the sixteenth century. “Genny-hen flower” and “checkered daffodil” were its common names.

Failure to establish themselves from imported bulbs, the reasons for which are not fully understood as yet, has resulted in very few of this genus of bulbous plants, indigenous to Asia, Europe and North America, being grown here. However, they can be grown from seed without too much difficulty but great patience is needed for it may take at least three years before they flower.

John Innes seed compost or another appropriate mixture should be used but as the seedlings are susceptible to damping off care should be taken to use only friable compositions. The seed should be covered with only sufficient soil to avoid their emergence when watering. After sowing immerse the pot up to within one inch of the rim in water and leave until the soil has been thoroughly saturated. Subsequently allow to drain and then place in a shady spot in the open. The soil should not be allowed to get too wet or too dry.

Thin out to avoid cramping once the seedlings begin to emerge and pot on as the bulbs reach the size of a pea, which can only be determined by inspection. An alternative method of raising stock is by detaching the small bulblets which will be found clustering around the parent bulb on some of the species but not on others. These bulblets, which are known as “rise grains,” can be sown and treated as seed and will come to maturity somewhat earlier. Most fritillarias seem to prefer cool conditions with

cold winters for satisfactory progress. Autumn is the time to plant them out and the bulbs should be given a covering of up to three inches of soil, depending on bulb size and soil type. The average garden soil is quite suitable for these spring-flowering subjects, but they like a situation in full sun.

They are suitable for rock gardens, mixed borders or for naturalising in grass. All fritillarias should be replanted as quickly as possible after lifting because the bulbs deteriorate rapidly if left exposed. The photograph shows Fritillaria pyrenaica which bears large, unusually coloured greenish, purple and red flecked bell-like flowers on stems which grow up to two feet tall.

Fritillaria meleagris is known as the Snake’s Head lily and has peculiar chequered solitary flowers,

of which various coloured forms occur. It grows about 15 to 18 inches high. The Crown Imperial, Fritillaria imperialis, is probably the best known of the fritillarias and certainly one of the most attractive, with its cluster of pendulous bellshaped flowers growing on the end of a leafy stem which may be three feet long. Colours may vary from yellow to shades of orange and red. Once the seed pods develop and ripen they alter their position from the drooping habit of the flower and become upright.

Other fritillarias which are less frequently seen include F. armenia which has purple flowers; F. aurea (yellow); F. moggridgei (brown and yellow); and F. recurva (scarlet and yellow). Because of their somewhat obnoxious smell fritillarias are not really suitable as cut flowers.