A long time ago in France I visited a watermill in April where the water meadow was completely covered in purple snakes-head fritillaries bending and bowing in the breeze. I don't have a water meadow here, of course, but my garden does become very soggy in winter and although I have raised the beds, the lawn becomes completely sodden, so a couple of years ago I thought I might try some fritillaries in it.
Snake's head fritillary - not quite a water meadow full
I had a bad back at the time and so I didn't prepare the site at all, I just dug into the grass and created a flap of turf, put the bulbs in and covered them up again. I felt guilty - no nice new compost, no mycorrhizal fungi, no special preparation of the soil. And sure enough, the following spring not a single fritillary poked through. And serve me right. However, this year, to my great surprise and pleasure, one snake's-head has appeared and is actually looking quite at home in the grass.
I prefer these little snake's heads to the large exotic fritillaries with bright orange flowers and green top-knots which are more at home in stately gardens than in my little city garden. There are lots of interesting smaller ones to try, but my favourite is still the snake's head - the purple chequered flowers look lovely together with their sisters, the white ones.
Fritillaries also look attractive when grown in combination with tiny species tulips. Species tulips once planted, will come up again year after year, something the larger tulips find more difficult to do. They always astonish me with the way they make themselves noticed. They only grow about 5in above the ground but they are so sprightly and cheerful.
The one that has grabbed my attention this year is called Little Beauty. It's a really shouty red with purple-turning-white interior and opens wide like a little star. It will close up again when the sun goes in, preserving its energy for later. I replanted some of this bed last year and lost one or two plants but one fritillary survived. It is growing among the Little Beauties and they look charming together.
Tulip Little Beauty with snake's head fritillary
I had a bad back at the time and so I didn't prepare the site at all, I just dug into the grass and created a flap of turf, put the bulbs in and covered them up again. I felt guilty - no nice new compost, no mycorrhizal fungi, no special preparation of the soil. And sure enough, the following spring not a single fritillary poked through. And serve me right. However, this year, to my great surprise and pleasure, one snake's-head has appeared and is actually looking quite at home in the grass.
I prefer these little snake's heads to the large exotic fritillaries with bright orange flowers and green top-knots which are more at home in stately gardens than in my little city garden. There are lots of interesting smaller ones to try, but my favourite is still the snake's head - the purple chequered flowers look lovely together with their sisters, the white ones.
Fritillaries also look attractive when grown in combination with tiny species tulips. Species tulips once planted, will come up again year after year, something the larger tulips find more difficult to do. They always astonish me with the way they make themselves noticed. They only grow about 5in above the ground but they are so sprightly and cheerful.
The one that has grabbed my attention this year is called Little Beauty. It's a really shouty red with purple-turning-white interior and opens wide like a little star. It will close up again when the sun goes in, preserving its energy for later. I replanted some of this bed last year and lost one or two plants but one fritillary survived. It is growing among the Little Beauties and they look charming together.
Tulip Little Beauty with snake's head fritillary
Love the little tulips with the fritillary!
ReplyDeleteSo beautiful, I remember these from mum's garden
ReplyDeleteI really like it when the garden takes me back to other times - which it so often does.
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