Fritillaria davidii

[Peter Maguire]

You've had flowers!   

I've yet to see a flower after five years - just increased my chances though as David Boyd was selling potfuls of young plants at our last meeting (I bought two, potfuls that is) each of which had more plants in than I have managed to produce from my original purchase.

[brianw]

I bought a pot of "young leaves" of this a year (or was it two) back, and was very surprised today to see a flower opening from the side of the pot. A first for me. Must be doing something right, although most of the leaves are more or less flat on the surface of the compost/grit on the top of the pot, and just a few are what I would call adult size.

[brianw]

SO, how are we all doing with this Frit. now?
I too had only 1 flower last spring but have a pot full of leaves now. Took a risk a couple of weeks back and potted it on into a larger (6") pot while in leaf. Some have certainly grown larger but then they may have done anyway. All 40-50 leaves! My moving on will inevitably given it a boost but wondered about liquid feeding too. Any thoughts?
Rareplants suggest it is similar to grow as F. camchatensis. I find that very easy and get flowers most years will no special treatment; it just sits in a cold frame.
This type of Frit. is one plant I would like to see grow in time lapse film. We often see seeds of grasses or trees etc. on TV but I would like to see a rice grain bulb grow and reform itself in time lapse. There used to be advice to pour any detached rice grains back around the main bulb when repotting, as though they re-attached themselves. Never really understood that.

[annew]

Still no flowers but plenty of leaves!

[Chris Johnson]

I bought some bulbils this year which came into leaf quite readily. I wasn't expecting to see any flowers for 3 years or so anyway, but than now sounds very optimistic.

Is the issue that the bulbs are splitting before they reach flowering size?

[Hoy]

I got 1 bulb two years ago and planted it outside. The leaves stay green all winter and die when the flower bud appears in March. Due to dull and cool weather it hasn't opened yet but now I hope it will open during the weekend.

[Maggi Young]

That's looking very good Trond. I wouldn't have thought it would "do" outside with you.

[Hoy]

Thanks, Maggi! 

I hope it will last and increase too! The weather has been rather mild the last two winters so if the winters get anything like some years ago I don't know....

[annew]

Well done, Trond! It looks 'at home' there.

[Hoy]

Thanks Anne

I hope I get more flowers next year.

It opened a little bit more today but the weather is still cold - some sun some hail

[colineddie1]

Still no flowers but plenty of leaves!

This forum never fails me - I was very lucky to get some bulbs from Ann this year and they have all formed leaves (thank you) now all I need to do is wait till March (this was the bit I was wondering about) to see if I am lucky enough to get flowers.

[annew]

I hope you do - I think the reason I get few flowers (if any) is that I send the biggest bulbs out to my customers!

[annew]

Also - I found Rannveig Wallis' instructions. I hope she won't mind if I reproduce them here:
FRITILLARIA DAVIDII
CULTURAL HINTS
This unique dwarf species comes from SW Sichuan, China where it grows on north facing hillsides in the
company of ferns under birch shade in leafy soils. A companion plant is sometimes Corjydalis flexuosa so
it enjoys the same conditions and, in fact, will grow outside in woodland.
In cultivation: we repot the bulbs in early June in an equal parts: leafmould, perlite, JI no. 2 mix,
water them and leave them outside in shade with frequent watering/rain all summer even though dormant.
We have always used plastic pots as they seem to stay a bit moister. The leaves appear in late October
when, in order to protect them from molluscs, which love them, we plunge them in a sunny alpine house
for the winter. They still need watering at this point. Flowering takes place in March and the leaves go
dormant rapidly afier this. Other growers have successfully used a moss peat/pulverised bark mix. The
emphasis should be on a light airy compost which is not too acidic.
Remember the leaves do not resemble those of other fritillaries since they have branched veins and are all wrinkly.

[Chris Johnson]

Also - I found Rannveig Wallis' instructions. I hope she won't mind if I reproduce them here:
FRITILLARIA DAVIDII
CULTURAL HINTS
This unique dwarf species comes from SW Sichuan, China where it grows on north facing hillsides in the
company of ferns under birch shade in leafy soils. A companion plant is sometimes Corjydalis flexuosa so
it enjoys the same conditions and, in fact, will grow outside in woodland.
In cultivation: we repot the bulbs in early June in an equal parts: leafmould, perlite, JI no. 2 mix,
water them and leave them outside in shade with frequent watering/rain all summer even though dormant.
We have always used plastic pots as they seem to stay a bit moister. The leaves appear in late October
when, in order to protect them from molluscs, which love them, we plunge them in a sunny alpine house
for the winter. They still need watering at this point. Flowering takes place in March and the leaves go
dormant rapidly afier this. Other growers have successfully used a moss peat/pulverised bark mix. The
emphasis should be on a light airy compost which is not too acidic.
Remember the leaves do not resemble those of other fritillaries since they have branched veins and are all wrinkly.

Thanks for that, Anne - certainly not been treating mine correctly 

[Jack Meatcher]

May I suggest that, if by now you haven't got your F. davidii to flower, you have a look at the AGS Frit Group website. There was a thread a couple of years back about getting it to flower. I think that depth of planting of the bulb has an influence.
Incidentally, my bulb has yet to flower and I've had it about two years. Lots of small leaves is the current status but it is supposed to flower in the Spring so time will tell.

Jack