Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Fritillaries
A highlight of our May garden is seeing the different fritillaries blooming. Here are pictured a few that are currently in flower: F. involucrata from the Alps, seen at top, is described in the reference book on fritillaries in my library as having "quiet charm". It is, in fact, the essence of subtlety. F. pontica, pictured next, is from S.E. Europe (the mountains of Albania to western Turkey), and it might be even a little more "subtle". It is quite a bit more spectacular when seen from below, peering up into the bell, but on an eight inch tall plant taking such a picture requires more effort than I was up to today. F. pallidiflora from central Asia does not require any acrobatics to see up into its pale yellow, squarish bells, for it is a large, stout plant with nice, grey-green foliage. The fourth fritillary pictured probably needs no introduction, as it is the crown imperial, with brick red flowers. My plants grown in a sunny bed are all of four foot tall. F. latakensis, native to Turkey, is a newcomer to our garden; it is quite tall, with petals that alternate in cool green and grayish purple. Finally we have to have a picture of F. meleagris, the snake's head fritillary; I'm pleased to report that it is spreading about our garden moderately, and is welcome wherever it shows up (though it's been popping up in some of the grassy paths, too).
// posted by IBOY @ 9:37 AM 
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Don,
We're still lamenting our loss of F. rubra back in 2007, but our Michailovskiis are still doing well and the F. uva-vulbpis are popping up all over right now. We love em and look forward to them spreading all over. Interesting that they are so tall for such small flowers, but that's fine, they're Fritillaries!
I think I'll have to get some F. meleagris this fall... they are gorgeous!
We're still lamenting our loss of F. rubra back in 2007, but our Michailovskiis are still doing well and the F. uva-vulbpis are popping up all over right now. We love em and look forward to them spreading all over. Interesting that they are so tall for such small flowers, but that's fine, they're Fritillaries!
I think I'll have to get some F. meleagris this fall... they are gorgeous!
I love that F. latakensis!! I will have to look into getting some. The only fritillaries that have grown for me were the michailovskyi, which I like very much too!
Gail... most of them are NOT easy!
IVG & Sylvana... you know I have trouble keeping michailovskyi going for more than about five years. I think it doesn't like being crowded.
Don
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IVG & Sylvana... you know I have trouble keeping michailovskyi going for more than about five years. I think it doesn't like being crowded.
Don
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