Helo Jude Maybe your soil is to poor Fritillaria imperialis loves a rich soil and many salesman sell bulbs with hart-rot always if you buy bulbs the bulb must be wrapped in tissue otherwise the early appearing roots dry out bulbs must be white at the bottom Roland 2011/4/12 <santoury@aol.com> This weekend, I visited Odyssey Bulbs, here in Massachusetts, and was blown away by his diverse collection. What struck me, especially, were his variegated Fritillarias. I've never seen these before - they are very interesting looking with the yellow edges on the leaves. Anybody else grow these? -- R de Boer La Maugardiere 1 F 27260 EPAIGNES FRANCE Phone./Fax 0033-232-576-204 Email: bulborum@gmail.com