Fritillaria-2008

[Jim McKenney]

Nice, Oleg.
For comparison, this species opened its first flower here in my Maryland USA garden on February 23! That plant grows in a cold frame which has been open most of the time becasue we are having very mild weather.
The last of the Eurasian Fritillaria are blooming here now; several North American sorts should open very soon, and they will be the last to bloom this year.

[johnw]

These two were grown from rice from Holland. Does anyone know what they could possibly be? Labelled as F. bithynica

johnw

[Lesley Cox]

It looks like F. pontica to me.

[johnw]

It looks like F. pontica to me.

Thanks Leslie - I just looked up pontica in The Gardener's Guide to Frits and it agrees. With 6 black eyes in the interior.

I wonder how winter hardy it is given its provenance.

johnw

[olegKon]

Thanks, Jim.
As summers here are rather wet I have to dig up frit species with dry natural habitats in summer to store them dry. They appear quite happy like this unlike Noth American species which don't seem to be enjoying our weather conditions

[Gerry Webster]

John - F.pontica will certainly tolerate summer wet but whether it would be happy being both wet & extremely cold in winter is open to question. I'd be inclined to protect it.

[olegKon]

This is the beginning of the frit season here
 fritillaria bucharica.

[olegKon]

Don't know why, but only 1 picture per a post
fritillaria raddeana

[olegKon]

fritillarias tubiformis & pinardii to compare the size of flowers
F. severtzovii

[Paul T]

The more I see of sewertzowii the more I like it.  Must track it down one day to grow it, as it is such a nice plant.  These Frit pics are all very impressive.  So nice to see them at this time of year (i.e late Autumn).

[Michael]

Impressive photos!

[olegKon]

Thanks, Paul and Mike. All frits are worth growing, but obviously, Fr. severtzovii is a very special one, they differ a lot in size and colour. The plant I've shown is rather small in size, but a giant one with yellow flowers is going to bloom in a few days, so I'll try to take a pic.

[olegKon]

Sorry for the same pic twice

[Paul T]

OlegKon (Sorry I am unsure of your actual name),

Congratulations on growing these beauties.  I would definitely love to see the yellow version when it opens.  You must be pleased to be growing these.  How tall actually are sewertzowii?  They look like they're of a reasonable size, but pictures can be deceiving I realise.  I've never grown it so have no idea at all.

[olegKon]

Paul, the plant in the picture is a seedling flowering for the first time for me (thanks to Maggy, I think. I expected to wait for 5 more years, but she assured me it can be quicker. And here it is). It's now appr. 20 sm. I hope it will be bigger a bit next season (30-35). The yellow one i have is always appr. 45 sm. As soon as it is in its glory I'll post a picture.