FRITILLARIA 2011

[David Nicholson]

Looks good Graham, what's the blue behind the white meleagris, it sets it off so well. (very arty!)

By the way, this is another thread I try not to look at.

[Graham Catlow]

Looks good Graham, what's the blue behind the white meleagris, it sets it off so well. (very arty!)

By the way, this is another thread I try not to look at.

Its a dwarf rhododendron but no confirmed ID. Its a litle more purple than the blue in the frit photo. You can see it in the Rhododendron - every garden should have one thread.
I'm afraid I am hooked on frits already. It's still in its infancy so nothing really special and nothing other than the meleagris flowering well yet either.

[Darren]

At this years Hexham Show there was the unusual occurrence of two clones of Fritillaria davidii on the bench next to each other. As Wilma and Jim Wright are friends I was happy to ask if I could cross-pollinate their plant with mine. My plant is the 'usual' form with prominent brown markings, theirs was a form with yellower, rounder flowers much like that pictured by Shelagh on the Fritillaria 2010 thread. Knowing that seed is never seen I was not hopeful but I think there are some promising signs. Whilst the other flowers and main leaves have died back, the two pollinated flowers seem to be developing capsules, also, as you can see, the stems are still firm and the brown bracts on the stem have turned green and increased in size - presumably to fuel the seed development. Fingers crossed eh?

[ArnoldT]

Two return performers.  The F. imperialis grows under a Medlar trree. 

[Lesley Cox]

Those look suspiciously like seed capsules to me Darren. Well done. It also puts the lie to the "never sets seed in cultivation" theory, and also to the "only one clone in cultivation" theory which I have doubted for some time, as a picture shown by (if memory serves me) by Shelagh, was quite different, more yellow, less chequered, from the "usual" form. You and yours will go down in the annals of horticultural history!

[Gerry Webster]

Fritillaria meleagroides

From Frit Group seed. Said to derive from a collection made in Poltavs’ka oblast, Ukraine.

[Arda Takan]

which genus do you think that the frit I added is?

[Darren]

I agree Lesley - seeing the two clones side by side it was very obvious they are different - if you read the Frit 2010 thread, doubts were even expressed about the identity of Shelagh's plant until Janis leapt to its defence.
 Even the Wallis's own account of growing the species says that 'several bulbs' were passed to them via Martyn Rix. Admittedly this does not mean they were different clones but nevertheless... 

I must ask the Wrights when I see them on thursday if the reverse pollination worked.

[Gerry Webster]

In Curtis's Botanical Magazine (2000) there is an article on F. davidii by Martyn Rix & Brian Mathew in which they state that "the material in cultivation was introduced into Britain by Mikinori Ogisu from Baoxing". It's not clear whether this introduction consisted of more than one clone. In their note in the AGS Bulletin (69, p486) Bob & Rannveig Wallis do not state the source of their plants though they seem to imply that they are from the Ogisu introduction. However, & for what it is worth, their photo shows  yellow flowers heavily tessellated reddish -brown whereas the painting in Curtis shows a plant in which the tessellation is much lighter & the flowers are of a greeny-yellow colour shading to brownish at the  apex.

I could scan the painting though I don't know whether this would create copyright problems.

Edit: Shelagh's plant with its yellow flower is completely different to both the photo & the painting.

[arisaema]

I'm pretty sure Chen Yi has offered bulbs of it in the past, so there's bound to be more than one clone available. It's proven fully hardy here, down to -20C.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

One I obtained at the AGS bulb sale last year.

Frit. meleagris "Saturnus"

[Gerry Webster]

Fritillaria epirotica   

From JJA seed  (pop.ref 495.200) Ex a collection from the type locality, Greece, Ioanina, Oros Smolikas, E of Konitsa, 2300m, serpentine slopes.

This is the first flowering. Jim Archibald told me it was very slow from seed  & he was right; 7 years. I think this is my favourite small fritillary - 5 cm tall.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

It's a real little gem Gerry !

[Gerry Webster]

Luc - I love it.

[Janis Ruksans]

In this entry Fritillaria gibbosa/karelinii - various color forms blooming just now
Janis