Fritillaria 2007

[Mark Griffiths]

Thanks for the IDs..the F.gracea has now opened a little more so I can see quite clearly that it is brown with a green stripe..distinct from the amana which is green with a brown edge..

[chris]

here the next flower in our greenhouse: Frit.gussichiae

[hadacekf]

I need the help of experts again.
I grow these two fritillaries in my garden. Can you help me with their names please?
By the way it is not F. meleagris.

[Lesley Cox]

The upper one is rather like F. cirrhosa again but I'm only going from the markings which tend to be patchy and unevern. I haven't considered shoulders, nectaries etc.

The lower seems to be close to F. ruthenica. As always, I await the BD's opinion.

[DaveM]

Can't help with the unknowns Franz, but they look really super.
You mention Frit meleagris, Franz, which is also a good garden plant - taken in my garden today.

[Maggi Young]

Those F. meleagris are early down there, Dave, ours still thinking about it!

I think Franz' first Fritillaria looks like F. burnattii but Ian is still pondering... I think he'd like a photo ofthe inside of the flower, perhaps, and the whole of the stem.... but I'm going with F. burnattii!

[Ian Y]

Sorry for the delayed reply Franz but there is so much to see and do just now that there are not enough hours in a day.
Identifying a Fritillaria from a picture is a bit like trying to identify some one from the back of their head.

The second one is almost certainly one of the F. montanum group and F.ruthenica or F.tenella could both be applied.

The first one after much deliberation I think is the rare, in cultivation, F. burnattii considered by some to be just a  subspecies of meleagris .
I have posted a picture of my plant of F. burnattii below for comparison.

[hadacekf]

Ian,  thanks for taking the time to help to me. I know, it is very difficult identify a plant from a picture.  I think you are right and I am happy to have the ID for this Fritillaria.
I think too, that the second frit. is one of the F. montanum group.
Thanks, all, for the comments.

[johanneshoeller]

Fritillaria kotschyana (not ...us)
Hans

[Andrew]

F. collina



You can just see the second shoot in the top picture but the bulb never splits, I'm going to have to help it this year .

[Paddy Tobin]

I grow very few frittilarias but from looking at your photographs I think I may grow some more. Here are a few which I do grow.

Frittilaria imperalis
F. meleagris
F. uva-vulpis
F. elwesii
F. bithynica


Paddy

[DaveM]

Nice yellow imperialis, Paddy, as is the meleagris. I used to grow uva-vulpis, but I find it doesn't stand up too well in the garden, usually flattened by the wind even before the flowers opened 
The last is not bithynica, I think. looks more like acmopetala to me. No doubt someone will correct this if I'm wrong.

[Maggi Young]

I would favour F. acmopetala, too, Dave, for Paddy's bithynica.
F. bithynica has  bell-shaped flowers with no curly bottoms, simple triangular bells, if you will! Why can I never remember the proper terms for these things when I need to? Funnel shaped, that's better!
And bithynica tends to be a plain green, yellow or greeny/yellow colour, and is a short plant. Paddy's plant looks like it is taller, more like acmopetala, I'd guess 12 inches plus (30cms). Acmopetala can reach more than this growing strongly, of course.

[Paddy Tobin]

Dave & Maggi,

Many thanks for your comments on the frittilarias. I grow only a very few but find I am attracted to them and can see myself growing more in the future. I had always been very cautious of growing them, fearing their reputation as being difficult in cultivation, especially as I am just terrible at giving the correct watering to anything in a pot indoors. I have always preferred plants which could do their thing in the open garden as it freed them from my clutches and gave them a chance of survival.

F. imperalis has been in the garden for 20 years or so and is now a fine clump. F. meleagris is a seedling from another clump in the garden. F. uva-vulpis is, as you say, Dave, very prone to falling over. This year it held on until it had flowered for a few days and then collapsed.

I must check the label on the  mis-named one and duly curse the supplier. Of course, I will then change the label.

Paddy

[Susan Band]

Paddy, the answer is to grow them outside in the garden, so far I haven't found any who don't prefer growing outside. Mind you, any that didn't like it would have died so I wouldn't know if they would have prefered a life in the greenhouse