Intro and Fritillaria pudica
anthony goode (Sun, 07 Jul 2002 04:09:39 PDT)

Hello all

Living in eastern England, where we have a maritime climate with
mediterranean/continental influences, I have been growing dwarf bulbs
since 1989. A busy family man, working full time (not with plants), I
find bulbs are more tolerant of my erratic garding routine than the
alpine plants which I also attempt to grow! I have a large collection
of Crocus and also grow many Narcissus, Fritillaria and Iris. I look
forward to learning more and hope to be able to contribute
occasionally.

I do grow and flower Fritillaria pudica, and have raised it to flower
from seed. I grow it in pots under cold glass. I too had problems
getting it to flower, until I neglected to repot it for two years -
then up jumped the yellow flowers. The routine now is to repot every
three or four years. In between I remove the compost above the bulbs
and replace it each year but I am careful not to disturb the bulbs and
the many rice grains around them. The compost I use is roughly
40%loam : 40% sandy grit : 10%peat : 10% Perlite. I allow the pots to
dry out completely during the summer. They are kept moist from
autumn until early spring. I increase the watering considerably once
the shoots appear above ground until the leaves begin to yellow.

Hope this helps.

Tony Goode. Norwich UK Mintemp -8C
http://www.thealpinehouse.fsnet.co.uk/