Fritillaria flowering, was A mystery solved
Jane McGary (Fri, 02 Feb 2007 17:17:10 PST)
Brian wrote,
I have had F. raddeana do this, flowering OK the first year then dwarfed for
the following 2 years before saying goodbye. One of the AGS frit group
members told me they received snow melt before flowering, and then
occasional storms, so should not be kept too dry at any time. Probably why
mine gave up in pots.
I've grown F. raddeana for about 15 years, having started from seed (the
bulbs are now available commercially, but I don't know what the quality may
be), and I do keep mine quite dry all summer, but they are in clay pots
that are plunged, so there is some residual humidity at least. I've not had
any try to bloom down in the ground. F. alburyana does, but I think it does
that to everyone. F. tubiformis flowers right on the ground, but I think
this is its normal habit and the flower (solitary) develops well. Once I
had a large bulb of F. striata flower before emerging, and somebody told me
it was sure to die soon, but it didn't -- it produced normal growth the
next year and all succeeding years.
Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon, USA