Fritillaria 2007

[chris]

Hi, I dont now if we need a new topic for Fritillarias but I started one with my F.raddeana, only 8cm high and already flowering, just like last year,

[Casalima]

This is what happens when a bulb didn't really do much last year and the pot was semi-forgotten in the corner. What is likely to happen to these babies and at what time in the season should I do something with them?

Chloë
Frit novice ...

[Lesley Cox]

Not a lot you can do with them Chloe, except build them up to flowering size again by some feeding, not necessarily high potash yet but later when they're bigger, and look after them nicely with plenty water while they're growing. I've done the same, forgotten about a bulb somewhere and its pot has got dehydrated so the bulb has broken down into little bits. They will grow on but will take a couple of years to flower.

It constantly amazes me how so many plants, whether bulbs, herbaceous or even trees, will fight like the very devil to stay alive when we, their guardians seem determined to kill them.

[David Nicholson]

I'm having my first go at Frits and have started with uva vulpis and michaelovskyi. They are in the greenhouse in pots in a mix of John Innes No.2 with added gritty sand and grit. Uva vulpis is showing well above the top dressing and looks healthy (about 2.5 inches) but nothing to be seen of michaelovski. So, I knocked the pot out today and apart from one bulb with a healthy shoot all the others had rotted-I re-potted the healthy one. The question is did I get a bad batch of bulbs or have I done something wrong-does michaelovskyi need another type of compost mix-or yet again was my watering regime wrong (they will have been on the dry side rather than the wet side?

[Ian Y]

David you may have been unlucky. If they were garden centre stock they are kept out of the ground far too long for their health this greatly weakens the bulb and even if it does grow then it is much more likely to succumb to rots.
My F. michailovskyis are not showing yet they are not one of the very early risers but I hope to see a green shoot in the next week or two.
The normal well drained compost will suit them, a good soak by early October in your part of the country and then just keep the compost moist enough to sustain the new roots that are emerging. I suspect that the ones that rotted on you had not produced any roots at all.
Plenty water when they start into full growth mode and are making their stems and leaves.

[David Nicholson]

Thanks for that Ian, they were Garden Centre stock, that's one I shall get from a specialist in future. Ian I have just noted that you say start watering in October in my part of the country,does that go for Crocus as well please, I started watering in September last year.

[Maggi Young]

September is fine, it is just that some of the frits start off a bit later.

[Diane Clement]

A little beauty to share, sorry about the quality of the photo, still getting to grips with new camera
Fritillaria koidzumiana - I believe a Japanese botanist has recently raised this to specific status, it used to be Fritillaria japonica koidzumiana

[Maggi Young]

Now that's a little sweetie! Look at those fringes to the petals. Can't believe how much you have in flower, Diane.

[Diane Clement]

Frit japonica is the earliest of my frits to flower.  The flowers and buds can get damaged if frost occurs in February (which it usually does).  I'm not completely sure how hardy it is?  Do you and the BD grow it in the frozen north, Maggie?  I've got a couple of other Japanese frits, I don't find any of them easy. 

[Lesley Cox]

Thanks so much for that piccie Diane. It's not in NZ and not likely to be with the present MAF policy regime. A real treat to see a species we may never otherwise see.

[John Forrest]

Diane, that's a lovely little Frit. 

[Maggi Young]

Diane, no we don't grow your nice furry litte frit up here. Never got the chance of seed, hint! Hint!

[Diane Clement]

It's never set seed.  Flowering typically in February, there's not much around to pollinate it.  I think it must need some specialised Japanese slug, which I'll keep trying to impersonate

[Maggi Young]

Good luck, Diane, tough job, but someone's gotta do it!