Re: re:fritillaria
- To:
- Subject: Re: re:fritillaria
- From: H* B*
- Date: Sun, 3 Dec 2000 14:15:16 +1100
Hi Susan
I love F. imperialis but it is way too hot to grow them here. I had a few
in Christchurch, New Zealand and they were beautiful. If only...if only...
Hazel
----------
> From: Susan Campanini <campanin@ntx1.cso.uiuc.edu>
> To: 'perennials' <perennials@mallorn.com>
> Subject: re:fritillaria
> Date: Saturday, 2 December 2000 2:11
>
> In response to your posting,
> Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2000 20:00:01 -0800
> From: mraitz@accessone.com
> Subject: Fritillarias
>
> Hi All,
> I'd be interested to know what fritillarias people are growing, and
> with what success. My F. meleagris have been dwindling except for
> one clump, all in heavy soil, I admit, and so has Imperialis - lack of
> feeding, I'm sure. Some lovely narrow sophisticated looking ones
> surprise me faithfully every year, F. elwesii, but they have good
> drainage where they are.
> What prompts the question is my new F. persica, a find at a 40% off
> sale. Must this have total sun and heat? Heavy feeder? Do you get
> re-bloom?
> What are your favorites?
> Marian Raitz
> Bellevue WA Zone 8 most of the time
>
> I love the F. meleagris (purple checked and white mixed) and have
> some that are quite old and that were moved from a prior garden. These
are
> in shade in a bed with ferns and rhododendrons in a soil that has a lot
of
> leaf mold in it.
> A few years ago, I put a hundred into a new bed and found that many
> fewer than that appeared the next spring. But the ones that did make it
the
> first year seem to be coming back well. Again, it's a shady area with
leaf
> mold.
> I think that the bulbs are sometimes too dried when you get them in
> the mail, and that this explains some of the first year losses. Although
we
> have extremes of heat, mugginess, and cold winter wet here in Illinois,
the
> shade beds where the fritillaries return well never have either standing
> water or cracking drought because we use lots of leaf mold and we run the
> sprinkler during dry times. (We never really feed with fertilizer as
opposed
> to top dressing with leaf mold and mushroom compost.)
> I also have some F. michaelovsky in a raised bed in a sunnier
> location that seem to do okay but are not increasing. I used to grow F.
> persica (a dusky plum beauty of a flower!) in a prior garden and have
just
> put in three bulbs here this fall. For them, I think that light soil
with
> water in dry times and some partial shade works best, in zone 5b anyway.
> I have grown the F. imperialis in the past too, but the skunky odor
> is a problem with them. In a bad winter, they may not be hardy unless
they
> are in very well-drained soil, and they do want full sun. But they are
> colorful, for sure.
> I'd like to grow the western frits, but you need drying off periods
> that don't correspond to Illinois at all...sigh. But it's a lovely genus
of
> bulbs with lots to try. Enjoy!
>
> Susan and David in Urbana, Illinois, zone 5b
>
>
>
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