Fritillaria davisii won't bloom...

[Peppa]

I planted a few Fritillaria davisii in the garden quite a while back and they have produced leaves but very rarely bloom. The location they are in gets morning sun and late afternoon shade and we have a Mediterranean climate, so I think they should do fine here... What am I doing wrong? I don't remember how deep I planted them originally but I'm wondering if I should lift them and separate them a bit when they are dormant? Any tips would be very much appreciated!

[Maggi Young]

Separate them later, perhaps - but I'd feed them with potassium rich fertiliser meantime to help mature the bulbs and promote flowering. 

[Peppa]

Separate them later, perhaps - but I'd feed them with potassium rich fertiliser meantime to help mature the bulbs and promote flowering.

Thanks Maggie for the tip! I will try a more potassium-rich fertilizer. It is funny that I feed all my Frits when I remember and some of them flower fine even though they may not have that many small leaves around the flowering plants. I was wondering if these are plants that like to be a little deeper like the reticulata group of irises... Have you ever heard of any relation between the depth of Frits and flowering?

[Maggi Young]

Frits which make rice grain bulbils may be more inclined to  make more of these, even breaking the main bulbs down to rice  if the conditions are not to their liking. This may be because they are not getting enough water, or are too hot -  that may  be because they are not  deep enough and  little frit bulbils, unlike  say, narcissus, are not able to  pull themselves deeper  in such a neat way as the narcissus can. The result is the same though - narcissus working on getting their bulbs deeper will not flower, neither will a frit making masses of rice grains.

If the main bulb of a rice making frit is  in good conditions it is able to both renew flowering sizes itself and also make babies.

I think a good feed now with Sulphate of potash - or  potassium rich fertiliser as I mentioned before, is the best way forward. When the growth dies down you can lift and split the clump to give the bulbs more room.

[Peppa]

Thanks Maggi for the input! At least, the frits are multiplying, not decreasing in numbers, so I guess that is a good thing.  I will let you know how they do! Thanks again!