FRITILLARIA 2011

[fermi de Sousa]

Fritillaria persica - transplanted when in active growth so not sure if it will be okay!


cheers
fermi

[Lesley Cox]

That's a big risk Fermi, especially with such a large and flowering plant. Was iot really necessary to transplant it at this time?

Having said that, they can be incredibly tough. I have a young (8 yr) persica, a small group of tuntasia and some thessala, all growing well and the latter two about to bloom, in thick and tall grass. They've been there for several years and the tuntasia and thessala continue to flower each year. I always mean to spray the area with Roundup while they are dormant but it hasn't happened so far. I guess from Arthur's pics that many grow in rank grass quite happily, but in the wild, maybe some are grazed off before the bulbs come up. In your case Fermi, it would be the disturbance and damage to the roots that would worry me. I read somewhere, can't remember where, that if the roots were destroyed, the bulb didn't make any new ones in that season.

[fermi de Sousa]

I didn't move it when it was in leaf! Sorry, it was in active root growth in July


when I had to unpot it and plant it out into a very gritty soil - the foliage is now looking grotty and I wondered if it was because I'd moved it and it hadn't re-established it's root system.
cheers
fermi

[Lesley Cox]

I assumed that you had lifted it from somewhere to put somewhere else. Taking it from a pot into the garden should be better but it looks as if all the potting mix has fallen away and left the bulb bare? I'm surprised that the foliage doesn't look better considering it is all new from replanting time. I mean it has all grown SINCE you moved it. Maybe it has decided to put everything it has into the very nice-looking flower stem in an effort to reproduce, especially if it had decided (you know what I mean) that this treatment was unacceptable and it would die as a result. You might get seed! If I were you I'd be out there hand-pollinating every flower. It won't hurt the plant if it doesn't set seed and if it does, there will be all that future insurance. Probably better with a second clone, but still worth a try?

[fermi de Sousa]

It didn't set seed last year, but as you say "worth a try"!

This is what I presume to be Fritillaria graeca but it seems to want to dispute that it's "an upside-down tulip" !


cheers
fermi

[Arda Takan]

fermi,
we do call frits. upside-down tulips in turkish indeed

[PeterT]

Fermi, try spraying it with a weak foliar feed morning and evening as long as you have some greenery, in order to build up the bulb.

There will probably be enough root still going for it to survive, it has had enough of a growing season by now  so the bulb should be ok even if a bit small. I often end up repotting them in root growth but I understand any damaged roots will stop growing.

[Lesley Cox]

My  F. aurea has thrown only blind shoots or aborted buds this year which is maddening as there are a dozen the right size to flower. But these two are the first seedlings to flowers from some FG AGS seed. There were just 6 seeds so there's a lot of rice in there. I hope I can bring more up to flowering size. I've cross/hand pollinated them.

[fermi de Sousa]

Arda,
Yes, I remember you mentioned that name for them.

Peter,
thanks for the tip, I'll try a foliar spray and hope for the best.

Lesley,
I've hand-pollinated a few flowers. Those seedlings look nice and healthy - I wish I could them to flowering size!

cheers
fermi

[t00lie]

I've germinated F.persica plenty of times Fermi however never been able to raise it to flowering .....Too shady here 'me'  thinks .

On the other hand a number of sps do well.

F.messanensis ssp gracilis
F.ehrartii
F.montana
F.kotschyana
F.amana

Plus a couple i'm happy to see flowering from seed sown many many moons ago.The labels of course have faded however i think i have keyed them out correctly.....
F.oliveri
F.collina (serrated edges to the petals).

Cheers Dave.

[PeterT]

Lovely selection Dave, just potting them here.

[Gerry Webster]

Dave - A nice selection. It's  not easy to tell from the photo, since the leaves are not too clear, but your 'F. olivieri' looks more like F. tubiformis to me. Is it quite dwarf?

[t00lie]

Thanks Peter

A lot of mine are in pots as well .

Gerry

Here are a couple of better pics --It's not a dwarf plant .Foliage is not glaucous.

Hope that helps .

Cheers Dave.

[fermi de Sousa]

Sadly we appear to have lost the Fritillaria lusitanica due to last summer's wet
In flower now are Fritillaria messanensis ssp messanensis


and the ever present Fritillaria pontica - this one came from a friend, now gone, so I cherish it.


cheers
fermi

[Rick R.]

I came across this
http://gardenofeaden.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-to-propagate-snakes-head-fritillary.html
that explains that very fresh Fritillaria meleagris seed, planted immediately, can be germinated and grown the same season.  Apparently common with Nomocharis species, is this also a common trait among other Fritillaria species?