Fritillaries

I first remember seeing fritillaries growing in a meadow in stately home. I can't remember where but these delicate flowers made a big impression on me and I have tried to grow them ever since. 

We don't have the ideal conditions for them in this present garden as the soil tends to be sandy and dry but there is one part that retains the moisture with a bit of added compost and leaf mould.

First of all we have the showy crown imperial fritillaries in glorious yellow and orange making a statement in the garden at this time of year. They tend to overshadow their daintier little cousins and I've made a mental note not to plant them so close together next time. Then they can can all shine in their own right.

The Fritillary Imperialis is an ancient garden plant, appearing in Renaissance paintings and featuring in the very oldest British books on gardening. 

We only have the orange imperial version in the garden. I thought we had yellow ones too but they haven't put in an appearance this year.

These plants are unusual with their top knot or crown of fresh green leaves and orange bells suspended underneath.

All Crown Imperials have a definite scent that can be picked up some distance away.

Inside the petals are what look like teardrops. The story is that the crown imperial fritillary was the only flower that refused to bow its head as Jesus passed by on the way to Calvary, and it now hangs its flowers in shame.

These are the largest and brightest of the fritillaries but not my favourite. That accolade belongs to the charming snakeshead fritillary.

Vita Sackville West commented -

"The fritillary looks like something exceedingly choice and delicate and expensive, which ought to spring from a pan in a hothouse, rather than share the fresh grass with buttercups and cowslips"

The ideal way to grow them is in a meadow like Dave at the Anxious Gardener

We can't quite manage anything approaching a meadow so we have a few clumps of snakeshead here and there, usually at the edge of the border so that they can be admired. They come in a purple chequered pattern and also in a pure white form.

We have also tried a few other fritillaries.

This one is Fritillaria Michailovskyi. It has several bell-shaped flowers, very dark purple with a bright yellow band at the outer end of each petal.

Fritillaria Pyrenaica is a native of Spain. So what you might ask is it doing growing away happily in a garden on the east coast of Scotland?
I don't know but it seems to like it here and has bulked up slowly over the past few years. The bell shaped flowers have a subtle colouring of purple and yellow with a hint of brown.

Fritillaria camschatensis which flowers slightly later is a species from Northeastern Asia. It is much more subdued in colour and pattern than other fritillaries and seems to like a damp shady corner.

There are seemingly over a hundred different types of fritillary but most of them are not suited to growing in the open garden and require more specialist care.