A 'confused' Fritillaria specie...

I came to the conclusion it was 'Rubra', I bought it from the local garden centre loose in a bin with no cultivar name.

http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=fritillaria+imperialis&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

It's wedged behind lots of pots so I'm going to have to do some shuffling to get proper pics, and then I won't be able to get under it unless I use the compact camera!

The inside was very interesting, the white blobs were liquid droplets which hung in the dark hollows. It also has fine red veins.

At least your whittallii has grown, I'm still waiting for mine, lol, I think it's alive.

yes, that really looks like the one you have, only that your pic did it more right!

I imagine you among a sea of pots, trying to get a good pic,lol! Perhaps you could take out its pot and put it on some kind of pedestal ?

I tried to make some reasonable pics. of F.eduarddii, but it's impossible to take good ones with these constant winds, but anyway it gives an idea how it evolved; It has 5 flowerbuds..

the inside;

By the look of those leaves blowing sideways you have our strong winds too! I feel so edgy, the sun has been shining often between the large clouds blowing over, the temperature is not too bad, but the winds are so chilly! I want to get out to do more of the endless jobs staring at me, lol, but I managed to get some bird pics to keep me busy.

Yes I will have to try to put my pot on something tall to get pics, if I don't fall on it first trying to get it.

That is a gorgeous golden colour! It is very similar to F. imperialis with it's droplets in the heart, surrounded by a lovely green.

'edgy' is the word! I also feel very irritable and nervous with these winds that never seem to stop.
There was quite some sun here also today, but difficult to enjoy because of the chilling winds.
I bought the F. eduarddii because it reminded me of yours. They do look very similar and perhaps next year it will behave normal, as it seems to be healthy after all.

I discovered that Fritillaria roots grow actively for 10 months , and if the roots die the plant dies. They should therefore be bought already in growth! No wonder I have had trouble with them, those dry corky looking rootless lumps don't stand a chance, even if they do flower once.

I found this site which sells seed cheaply, and some bulbs too which they send fresh and wet.

"If you are growing bulbs, only get fresh, wet bulbs. We send out our bulbs in moist peat and you should plant them without delay, in there final growing position. Fritillaria do not like to be dried out, the roots are activly growing for ten months and if their roots are dried they will die."

http://www.poppyheadsltd.co.uk/4681.html?*session*id*key*=*session*id*val*

My F. imperialis was quite fresh when I got it, thankfully it survived! I took this photo on Sunday, I dragged it out the greenhouse but put it back. Today all the flowers are open nicely but the sun didn't last long enough and I couldn't be bothered dragging it out again.

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Fritillaria roots grow actively for 10 months , and if the roots die the plant dies even if they do flower once

Could that mean that all of these Fritillaria's I bought 'dry' will not come back next year?

I have the impression that specially F.raddeana is looking very vigorous, I cannot imagine it to die..

Interesting the information on the site you gave that they shouldn't be pampered in a greenhouse but being exposed to the cold and elements outside..

Your F. imperialis looks so beautiful against the sky, I love the rich colour and the veining on the flower petals.

If any of my Fritillaria's make seed, shall I save them for you?


The brave and proud F.raddeana withstanding dignified the adverse elements; (it could be its making seeds as it got frequent visits from bees), pic. from this morning

I think your F raddeana will survive as my F. imperialis has, the smaller bulbs will hopefully survive too, but I have had two other species which did flower then sat in the pot doing nothing the following year. I ended up putting them in the ground somewhere but haven't seen them since. I didn't see any roots on them but they both looked OK at the time.

One day I might get a surprise! They could be resting and making all those roots, lol, but it is too long now I think. The dry bulbs we buy never have roots and usually look withered, F. graeca was the last one I got from rareplants and I think it wasn't too dry but I'm still waiting for it after 2 years! It flowered the first spring but last spring it didn't have roots. It's so long since I got the other one I don't even remember what it was now but I think I wrote it in an old thread somewhere. I know where I planted graeca, not the exact spot but the area, the other one I don't have a clue where I put it!

Your poor raddeana, lol, you got snow in the end. They are supposed to be tough. It would be wonderful if it made seeds, and I would love to grow some, mine didn't make any last year although I thought at first it had. I see an occasional bumblebee buzzing in a hurry but they never seem to settle, I got a couple of very fuzzy pics of two different ones and a reasonable pic of one some time ago.

Strange you didn't see any roots on them after they had flowered,wallaby!
That makes me curious about mine, I think I'm going to check at least the ones I have in a pot after the foliage has died.
That must mean that the bulb uses all its reserves present in the bulb to produce the flowers and then is too exhaused to regrow..

There are still F. pallidiflora, F.pontica and F.acmopetala I'm waiting for to bloom. Acmopetala and pallidiflora are almost ready , pontica only has its nose sticking up. Perhaps these were the only ones that behave 'normal' as they are on 'schedule'. If only they would get some sun, poor things! All the snow is gone by now, temperatures have rizen, but alas no sun!

Aha, the sun has just started to show here through the cloud, of course it does this as nightfall is near! Cold, damp north air with drizzly rain today and barely 6C. The next few days should be 9 to 10C but rain is forecast, we should be getting 12C now! Had that in February, lol, upside down weather.

Yes I think the same, exhausted bulbs, but when they looked OK you would think they would take a rest then grow again, the mysteries of Fritillaria we don't know. Some bulbs can rest for a long time before they decide to reappear.

In future I think I will take the time to grow them from seed, or already growing in pots. There is a place here which sells them growing, maybe when I have exhausted my other passions I will purchase a few. They have always been a favourite but one can only cope with so much at a time. While I wait I learn, lol.

I don't think most of them will have been bothered by the weather, it seems they are tough and probably get all sorts of weather thrown at them in their natural habitats. Time will tell.

Fritillaries can become an addiction and I can see why! I was at the Alpine Garden Society show yesterday and there were some fantastic show plants. I have pallidiflora but haven't done very well with others at all and I do like them so much!

Did you take some picts of Fritillaria's Galanthophile from the Alpine Garden Society show ?
Perhaps you could try F.raddeana, it really feels like a tough and reliable one?

Bontin

This is our Fritilaria Hermonis ssp. Amana.................

also our Fritilaria Michailoski

and the good old Snake's Head Fritilaria

Thanks Crocosmia for posting yours!
It looks like your F.amana has three flower heads on one stalk. Mine only gave one on each, but that's probably because it's in its first year. How long do you have yours ?

Fritilaria Michailoski has a beautiful and interesting inside

And of course F. meleagris, its one of the dearest to me. I love it!
I must take some pics of mine too...

Hurray the sun is shining here !! AT LAST!!

You are welcome.........
I have had the Hermonis subsp Amana for a couple years.......... cannot remember if it used to have one flower head on a stem or not.

Michailoski is lovely, you cannot quite capture it on photographs though. I get all mine from Pottertons nursery, which is a couple miles from me. They have lotssssssssssssssssss of different Frits. http://www.pottertons.co.uk/pott/index.php

Same here, it was just beautiful yesterday and today is going to be similar apparently.

Mark

I am in frit heaven with this thread. Mine are a long way off still. I adored following the blooming of F.hermonis subsp.hermonis and it was worth the wait. Now I wait for mine to bloom, hopefully. No doubt the list will grow. Patti


Fritillaria elwesii
Fritillaria acmopetala
Fritillaria persica
Fritillaria pallidiflora
Fritillaria raddeana
Fritillaria imperialis red
Fritillaria imperialis Lutea Maxima
Fritillaria meleagris
Fritillaria uva-vulpis
Fritillaria pontica
Fritillaria verticillata

Oh that Pottertons site is soooo.. tempting Crocosmia!

Hi Patti! That's a nice collection you have there. Hope they're all going to bloom for you.

here are my F.meleagris;

Not fully open yet but beautiful anyway (tête à tête);

A fully open one;

Bontin

I somehow knew you would love the pottertons site.............. they sell an amazing amount of plants all over the world.

Mark

Very weird! The first one to open and the most vigorous of the three F.pallidiflora I had planted looks to be a double. I wonder if this is normal as I bought it as the specie.. It has three flower heads.
It was difficult to take a good pic. because of the again very dull somber weather, sigh.. There was a teasing sun though, appearing for just a couple of minutes once in a while but by the time you get ready to enjoy it she veils herself with heavy clouds!

From another angle;

The whole plant, not very focused;

I got a surprise yesterday, I have lots of leaves all of a sudden where I planted Fritillaria acmopetala two years ago. They are supposed to increase well, and I know when they were in the pot in the second year they had started to grow a few small leaves, that's when I decided to plant the whole lot as it was in the ground. Last year they didn't show at all, now look what I have!

What a nice surprise wallaby! One of mine just started to open up, but the leaves are much more narrow than the ones showing in your photo. When I googled F. acmopetala there are images with narrow and broad leaves, so it much be very variable..

http://images.google.be/images?hl=en&q=Fritillaria+acmopetala&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2

This is my still very young one, the shape can still evolve..

I'm sure the leaves were narrow when it first grew bonitin, I was surprised to see broad leaves like that but maybe once it settles in they change.

Your flower at least has some red on it, mine was green but it might change when it flowers again. When that will be I don't know! At least I know it's doing well, lol, with a surprise to come. I still want to see the other one I planted, it was a black-plum colour and I still don't remember the name! Now I must put F. whitallii in the ground, it might grow in two years time!

bonitin, I think your F.pallidiflora looks very full perhaps it is a double. Here is a picture of one of mine last May 13th. I am just seeing them poke through the soil now. I have Frit envy of you all.

Wallaby1, I am glad you posted that picture of your Fritillaria acmopetala , I will go and check and see if mine are showing, probably not yet. But now I will know what to look for. Thanks, Patti

That's very strange, wallaby that the leaves can change from narrow to broad! when I looked at your pic. first I thought they could be the leaves of F.palidiflora...

I was curious about my F. whitallii, planted in a pot and that had only some spiny leafs now dying off. The bulb got a bit larger and made some tiny offset bulbs attached to it. I have put it into the ground a couple of days ago, and hope I'll remember where later on, I just don't like to put labels in my garden, they do disturb..

Yes, Patti, one of my F.palidiflora is rather strange too; its has three flowers of which one is full, the second on has two extra petals (half-full?) and the third is normal. The second one has only two flowers but still in a young stage.

It is just very difficult to take a good picture of it. It's like the camera has difficulty to focus on it or more probably my lack of knowledge how to do it.
The one on the left is really full, the middle one half full and the third 'normal'

bonitin, I think you need to count the petals, as they should all be the same, or at least that is what I would think. Patti

It is strange bonitin, but I am thinking because the bulb would not have been established with roots, it was only able to make a flower stem and some leaves which I remember it did have but perhaps not the leaves it would have when established. In this case it isn't flowering, all those small leaves you see around the broad ones belong to it too and are from immature bulbs. This fritillaria makes lots of tiny rice shaped bulbs around the parent bulb, which can be removed to grow on their own but in nature may not grow unless the parent bulb should die. Maybe my original bulb died as it had no roots, and that's what they say will happen, leaving small bulbs to grow on and that's why it's taking it's time.

This pic is of ssp. wendelboi, mine I bought as acmopetala and I don't know if the leaves differ much, but if you look at the leaf hanging out on the right that is more what mine looked like from my memory. This is pot grown and most likely under cover as mine was, now it's in the ground so leaves could differ because of different conditions, growing without the extra heat. To the left behind the front leaf there is a couple of leaves that look more rounded, they look to be from new unflowering bulbs.

http://freespace.virgin.net/kate.almond/NM04fram.jpg

I checked rareplants website, my previous purchase records can be viewed and I bought both bulbs at the same time in late October 2004, the other one is F. caucasica but it didn't look as exciting as their picture showed! They both flowered in 2005, and both were OK in 2006 but I'm not sure if F. caucasica made leaves whereas acmopetala made several small growths.

F.pallidiflora looks quite large. Pale colours can confuse cameras, mine thinks some white's are too bright so I have to increase the EV!

Patti, I just counted the petals of the three flowers on the same F.palidiflora. The full one has 10, the second 8 and the third 7. The other palidiflora, one of its two flowers opened up, has only 6 and must be the normal amount of flowerpetals. Took a pict. of it in between pouring rains alternated with hail, the day started very dark, but now the sky is clearing up..
Wallaby, another difference with ssp. wendelboi from the 'freespace site' is that at least in my case acmopetala has much longer flowerstems (about 25cm tall) and the flowers appear to be more elongated.
Thanks for the EV suggestion, I finally found out what it is in my manual which is in Dutch. I must try it out once.

Pic of the 'normal' F.palidiflora; the flower petals stand out more wide than its neighbours.

This one was easier to photograph the inside;

The more mature state of F.acmopetala;

there is still my F.pontica that has to bloom, but one of them is almost ready..

the inside of acmopetala;

That was really a great suggestion wallaby about trying out to lower the EV! IT WORKS!!! I'm so happy with it. Now there are many more possibilities opening..
Thank you so much!

I tried it out on the palidiflora's, not perfect (it was getting dark) but so much better focused. Here are the two together;

This one was taken yesterday of a light pink F.meleagris and I found the effect of the sun on it magical. I'm sure if I had known about the EV it would have been better. Now it looks overexposed but I thought it looks like a lampshade turned on.

Your form of F. acmopetala is very nice bonitin! Now you will have to keep trying the EV for different situations, it can work surprisingly in what we would think the reverse is needed! I had my EV increased to take pics of dark bumblebees against white Pieris flowers in sunshine, lol, it was really confused. Also I find often if I use the Shutter priority with a faster speed it makes it darker, so the EV has to be increased.

Lovely Tiffany lampshade, lol!