Fritillaria Meleagris Mixed

I've developed a fascination with this plant and wonder if anyone has tried them.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

also known as "checkered lily"

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/63386/

Check here http://www.johnscheepers.com/catview.cgi?_fn=Product&_category=Fritillaria

They say Z3-8, that would be you.

I am in the near tropics, we grow amaryllis for bulb color (and not much else).

I commercially grew them in Holland. Was quite lucarative since a lot of them grow in a square yard.

After flowering they would set seed. You would wait until all the seed pds had sprung. Then you would take off all the foliage/stems, etc and clear the bed. Then you would scoop up about 1/2 inch of dirt and sifted all the seeds out.

Then you could dig the bulbs and you would store them in trays in sand as they otherwise would mummyfy.

Next would be to take out all the dirt clumps as much as possible out of the seed mixture and store until [lanting time.

You then would sow then in a bed and leave then there for 2 years, before you would dig them and plant them again for a third year.

Easy to do, but it takes some time.

Thanks for the replies. Other than the "where to get sand" part I think I could do that. I'm thinking of placing them in a perennial bed that has other plants on a multi-year cycle so that could actually work.

Thanks again.

The easiest Frit to grow in my opinion. Variable in flower and foliage color - dark purple to white and blue green to light green. One of the few spring bulbs that look good planted singly, if it is taller than all surrounding plants. They are scattered (singly) in our Aboretum's rock garden, and are quite effective, and due to their sparse foliage seem to disappear when out of flower while they make seed and develop next season's bulb.

They are very easy, I have quite a variety of meleagris - different colours and patterns, they seed around very freely and flower quite quickly from seed. They are a joy to see in a lawn when left to naturalise.

Agree with Leftwood - the easiest frit, completely undemanding, and dependable even in zone 2.
There is no need to dig them up in our climate, other than for transplanting to other areas.

I planted 6 last year and 1 bloomed -- beautifully. Don't know what happened to the rest. Planted 10 more this year. I look forward to spring.