Fritillaria 2009

[Jim McKenney]

Welcome to the Botanical Box of Chocolates.

I guess it doesn't help to poke your finger into a frit bulb before buying it?

[Lesley Cox]

Is here a listing somewhere of Fritillarias that will do well in very hot dry summers and mild winters with about 15" of rainfall a year and maybe a few frosts?

It will be a matter of trial and error Pat and then you, yourself will need to make up that list. Your very mild winter may put a few off but the summer shouldn't hurt them although I would be shading them in the strongest heat. Dry shade is very good for bulbs where full sun can literally cook them unless they're way down deep.

[Mark Griffiths]

I had hoped that it being a specialist group the plants would be true to name. Cyclamen Society seed seems to be fairly reliable though.

In the 90s I wrote a piece for the AGS about an element called "Transmutium" which I suggested was the cause of all the spontaneous mutations in seed from AGS seed, it seems that naughty element is more ubiquitous than I originally thought.

[Sinchets]

Lesley- glad it's not just me!
Mark- how well was your 'Transmutium' theory received.

[Gerry Webster]

Is here a listing somewhere of Fritillarias that will do well in very hot dry summers and mild winters with about 15" of rainfall a year and maybe a few frosts?

It will be a matter of trial and error Pat and then you, yourself will need to make up that list. Your very mild winter may put a few off but the summer shouldn't hurt them although I would be shading them in the strongest heat. Dry shade is very good for bulbs where full sun can literally cook them unless they're way down deep.

Pat - I pondered about responding to your post  but my first thought was that your conditions are not very promising for frits. I agree with Lesley that it will be a matter of trial & error & you will have to compile your own list, but I disagree in that I think it will involve a lot of error & the summer heat will be the main problem. If you wish to try I would suggest that you start with  cheap & relatively easy bulbs like F. meleagris &/or F. acmopetala, &, if successful move on to  F. pyrenaica, possibly F. pontica & F. thunbergii (= F. verticillata of gardens). However, unless you can find a means to keep the bulbs relatively cool & slightly moist during the summer, they are unlikely to  survive. In my experience frit bulbs do not like hot & dry conditions - they are 'naked', i.e., have no protective tunics.

[Gerry Webster]

The beauty(?) of the Frit Group seed exchange is that you (almost) never know what you will get. Anything which is not F. acmopetala should be regarded as a bonus.

Oh blast! I really thought the Frit Group's seed list would be pretty reliable, with all those "expert" names beside the donations. My first from that source are due to flower this coming spring so it seems it could be a lucky dip too? From society seedlists I'm used to getting acmopetala, pontica, meleagris for 3 of every 5 requests.

I was a member of the Frit Group from day 1 & my comments are based on my very early experience of the seed exchange. Matters may have improved.

[Lesley Cox]

I have to agree with you Gerry about Pat keeping THOSE frits a bit moist in summer. I was thinking more of the Eastern Aegean and Turkish species. I imagine Australia is like NZ in that NO frit is a cheap frit and only very few are ever offered commercially though the Aussies have it better than we do in that Marcus Harvey in Tasmania offers a good selection each year, mainly from seed he collected in Greece and the Greek islands. Here, we used to be able to buy F. imperialis but this is gone now, all available being exported to Holland (!) and very occasionally meleagris and pontica are offered in garden centres, packeted and usually around $6-12 each. NZ rock gardeners are great seed growers bedcause we've always had to be.

[arillady]

Thank you all for your insights. I was thinking that if I started with seed of those Fritillarias that come from a similar climate that I might succeed with those. I would not try with any that need gentler summer or really cold or damp conditions. I was thinking that the Fritillarias that are native to areas where the arils that succeed with me would be the ones to try. I seem to be able to grow Iris atropurpurea, camillae, haynei, hermona, lortetii, mariae, samariae and urmiensis species or species crosses between these species - some better than others.
There is probably only a handful that I could grow here.

[chasw]

Three more pictures today,and tragic news for one Frit,a mouse found its way into the cold greenhouse and has eaten through a stem,so the traps are now set

Frit Chlororhabdota
Frit Ariana now in full flower
Frit Euboeica

[Tony Willis]

they are really nice plants.I particularly like the ariana

[chasw]

Thanks and yes I have given it ,and Gibbosa, a tickle with a small brush so am hoping to get some nice seed

[Oron Peri]

Fritillaria rhodia starts to bloom, green-yellow when young,  dark yellow as flower mature.

[Otto Fauser]

Oron  , I love your little charmer from Rhodos , years ago I had F. rhodia with even smaller flowers than yours and less green in it's early stage  - but sadly lost it .

[annew]

This little fritillaria is one of the few I grow, and it's the first time it has flowered, I think. It is Fritillaria pinardii Ilgarz (?) form, unless someone knows different!

[Tony Willis]

Anne a very nice pinardii.I think it will be from Ilgaz Gec (without the 'r') a pass in N Turkey.

Three of mine in flower. I struggle with frits which seem to have some soil borne disease which causes them to wilt and die of before flowering.This results in ever smaller bulbs.