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Fritillarias – a very
personal account
Fritillarias can be bought
between May and November from our Autumn Catalogue
or in season from our Online Ordering
Section.
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Although
I have been in professional horticulture for 30 years, prior to our purchase
of BG my experience of growing bulbs was limited to the few ‘normal’ daffs
that every garden has. BG introduced me to the magical world of small bulbs-
narcissus in particular, and our first RHS spring show introduced us to
Michael Upward who quickly parted us from our profit for that show,
converting it into life membership of the AGS. From that beginning our
knowledge of small bulbs expanded rapidly indeed.
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Frit. michaelovskyi |
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One of
the most influential contacts in those early years was Jack Elliott and it
was in his glasshouses that we first saw and coveted a collection of
Fritillaries. The acquisition of 3 bulb frames coupled with a trip to
Eastern Turkey, where I first saw the delightful gold-tipped bells of
F
michaelovskyi, among others and I was hooked.
However over the years Frits have only really played a bit part in our
collection. I will leave the wonderful displays of the rare and difficult
ones to the real experts. Here they have to accept benign neglect and a
remarkable number seem to have done just that, in particular F. messanensis.
This rather tall fritillary, with large, greenish-gold flowers and intense
chocolate brown tessellations has proved to be easily grown in a well
drained, sunny position and is equally easily raised from seed. The well
known
F.acmopetala grows happily alongside it. |
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Frit. acmopetala |
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Frit. pontica |
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F.
pontica, with its 2-3 chunky green bells, started
life cosseted in the bulb frame where it grew to magnificent proportions – a
“dead cat plant” in Jean Elliott’s words. We then let it take pot-luck on
the rock bank and it has continued to do well, although it has never set
seed. Other occupants of the bulb frame have proved rather more variable in
their performance -some lasting only a few seasons before dwindling to
nothing whilst others have continued to flourish but not show any
inclination to bulk up in a meaningful way. Two members of the Rhinopetalum
group, F.stenanthera and F.bucharica, fit into the last category. Although
they live and flower in the bulb frame they are at the open end where
they always receive a little moisture throughout the year. |
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We have
found others easier to propagate by seed than offsets. The original bulbs of
F. sibthorpiana and F. bythinica set large amounts of seed, which is then
sown in seed trays as soon as it is ripe. These then spend the summer
outside where they are somewhat erratically watered, moving into the tunnel
for the winter. Bulbs start flowering in 4-5 years. The only really
frustrating bulb is F. evertzovii. In the 20+ years that I have grown this
bulb it has never set seed or produced an offset. The original bulb is now
huge and happily lurks deep in the frame, erupting into growth early in the
spring. We have also found that it is very moisture sensitive and will abort
the last flowers unless given copious amounts of water. |
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Water, or rather the lack of it, is the principal cause
of poor performance of the imperialis group. Our soil here is a very free
draining river alluvium and our average rainfall is only just over 20”, not
ideal for the bog dwelling F imperialis. They seem to flower 1 year in 3,
preferring the heavier soil of the lower nursery to the light soil of the
garden. They suffer from the inevitable mini drought that we seem to have
each April, just when they need the most rainfall. |
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Frit imperialis Rubra |
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Frit meleagris |
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Another fritillary that is traditionally associated with
water meadows is the native
F. meleagris but it has proved to be much more
adaptable to a wide range of conditions than many gardening writers would
have you believe. It has always grown well in the semi shade of our woodland
beds but I wanted drifts in the grass. I first tried to establish it under
a Japanese cherry but as fast as I planted the bulbs in the autumn the mice,
or squirrels, came along after me and ate them. In the end I resorted to
potting the bulbs and planting out the flowering potfuls the following
spring. This proved very successful and soon the colony was self-seeding and
producing a whole range of colours from deepest purple to pure white. We do
not cut the grass until all the seed capsule have burst, leaving time for
the seed to settle and also remembering to leave a large enough area uncut
around the colony next spring for the seedlings to grow. We successfully
repeated the exercise when we decide to establish a wild meadow of frits and
Narcissus bulbocodium in the more traditional damp area beside the pond.
Each spring we add a few more potfuls to the planting, the main advantage of
this being that we can see exactly where the gaps are. |
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Frit verticillata |
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Often we
kill plants by kindness. For many years we have grown what the trade persist
in calling
F. verticillata, a central Asian species, but is
probably more correctly the smaller flowered Chinese
F. thunbergii. The bulbs grow and increase well
but flowering in the open nursery beds was sporadic at best. I then planted
some in a new woodland bed that we had created. Here they revelled in the
light, humus rich soil that is dry in the summer and proved what a fantastic
plant they really are- flowering profusely and setting seed. Growing in the
next nursery bed to the blind
F. thunbergii is one of our more unusual
fritillaries. A chocolate-brown form of F. affinis was planted here many
years ago when it was known as F. lanceolata. I can’t say that it has
exactly flourished but it is still growing and producing handsome spikes of
speckled brown flowers and good amounts of seed. The bed it is in is an
amazing hotch-potch of
F.meleagris,
F.camschatcensis,
Erythronium
Revolutum and Dodecatheon meadia Alba. They
started life in regulated rows but over time have spread into each other so
that it is now a glorious muddle which we use as a source of seed. |
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Frit
camschatcensis |
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Even a small change in circumstances can adversely affect
performance. We have a long wall running east-west dividing the nursery in
two. Under the north side of this we built a raised peat bed which received
any rainfall going but was constantly in shade. The Alaskan
F.
camschatcensis, green, white and the aberrant
double, all grew and flowered well. Then two events happened almost
simultaneously. Firstly the wall blew down and we only rebuilt it to
fraction of its former height, allowing direct sunlight to fall on the bed
for the first time, both raising the temperature and significantly reducing
the moisture levels. The Frits hated it. They came into growth each April,
full of promise, only to quickly wither away. The second happening was the
advent here in the west of the dreaded lily beetle. Even if we remembered to
give them plenty of extra water the beetle beat us to the flowers. We have
now included them in our anti beetle campaign by watering them with a
proprietary caterpillar killer which seems to work well on my lilies. The
main problem is remembering to start early enough, before the beetles cause
too much damage. It remains to be seen whether we will ever have the display
we once had.
Although the gems of the genus are stunning show-winners I have a sneaking
affection for the quieter members of the fritillary family, not least for
their adaptability and tolerance of the inadvertant neglect that is
inevitably found in a busy nursery. |
Frit
Group Mag. summer 03
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