Fritillaria 2009

[Lesley Cox]

Mine grows in  pretty much full sun at present but it has had masses of rain over the last month. According to Pratt and Jefferson-Brown it grows in stony clay screes and pine woodland in California and should be allowed to dry out completely in the summer. Mine will anyway as the bulb pots only get rain, no watering and we have little rain for about 3 months (usually).

[Ragged Robin]

Lesley, are you on clay? Thanks for the background to F purdyi, it really is pretty.

[Lesley Cox]

No Robin, just regular soil mostly but the potted frits and other bulbs are in a soil-less compost. I think a small proportion of soil should be added as it helps avoid botrytis I think.

[Ragged Robin]

I think a small proportion of soil should be added as it helps avoid botrytis I think

That's a good tip, I noticed a touch on one or two tulip bulbs in a pot - should I throw them or can I save the others which appear clean?

[Lesley Cox]

My experience is that even if botrytis appears on the foliage of frits, if I spray with a systemic fungicide (usually I dowse them, applied from a watering can) the bulbs are unharmed and duly appear next year. The trick is to spray well BEFORE it appears and so avoid it altogether. Your tulips should be OK if sprayed ASAP Robin.

[Ragged Robin]

Have done, Lesley, thanks 

[Paul T]

Howdy All,

In full flower for me at the moment.... Fritillaria camschatcensis.  Photographed in the sun to show the detail, although it appears much darker to the eye.  I notice that it appears there have been eggs laid on the flower..... I've only just noticed them when preparing the pic which I took a couple of days ago. 

Enjoy.

Please click on the pic for a larger version.

[Ragged Robin]

Such a rich dark looking Fritillaria camschatcensis, Paul, handsome I would say with lovely detail i  the sun.  Who was it who found it too hard to resist setting up home do you think?   

[Paul T]

No idea Robin.  I have a vague memory of this frit supposed to be having a rotten smell, so maybe it was some sort of fly attracted to the scent?  I really don't know.  The flower looks much darker than it does in the pic.... the sunshine brings out a lot of the colour inside.

[Lesley Cox]

You'd better keep a sharp eye Paul, to see what hatches. It shouldn't take too long as the flower has a reasonably short shelf life.

[Paul T]

Lesley,

robably been and gone well and truly insect-wise by now.  Is Frit camschatcensis supposed to have a foetid smell?  I seem to recall something about that.  I'm figuring probably a fly if that is the case, so there won't be much point for the maggots in that flower.