Lovely Lampshades: Fritillaria michailovskyi

Funny how quickly the 'archives' of spring bulb pictures get outdated in the mad rush to bloom in which so many flowers compete at this time of year ... We took these shots back in late April and of course, at this point, they've already packed up and gone away for the rest of the season. But I thought I'd post them anyway, as a fond farewell to the early spring bulbs ... but there are still Wood Hyacinths (Hyacinthoides hispanica or 'Spanish Bluebells') just starting to bloom now so they'll be the absolute last of the truly spring bulbs to do their thing.

Fritillaria michailovski was the first Fritillary we ever planted years ago (thank you Martha Stewart, lol) and though I think there were originally about six, but they've dwindled over the years, most likely due to the rather poor spot we chose to plant them (at the edge of the sidewalk, where they're almost too small to see up close) and some harsh winters, as well as last year's disastrous spring. But when we planted them, our first bulb bed was brand new, and the front boulder bed was only a dream that had not yet been accomplished. But still, they persevere and this year we vow to dig up that bed, re-do it and transfer these lovely little fellows (natives to Turkey, of all places!) to a more prominent spot in the front border for next spring. We also plan on getting some more to increase their numbers, because having a nice little mass of F. michailovski would make a great companion to other early bloomers such as the Snowdrops and Crocus (which was the original idea where we have them planted now), so hopefully we'll just move the whole lot to some newer spots and give them a little more prominence next year. I've whined enough this spring about last year's débacle (and I promise to stop!) but I thought you might be interested in seeing how they looked last year. They definitely did better this year! (Notice the difference in quality between the old Fuji and the new one -- the S700-- I'm constantly amazed at how much richer colours the new one captures!)

Next week I am taking a week's vacation to really get out and get serious in the garden, as planting season (especially for veggies) is quickly slipping away from us after what has seemed like such a brief nice period of spring! There's still a lot of clean up and weeding to be done (the dandelions are done, so out they go!), so I hope to tackle a bit each day I'm off and get areas weeded and planted with some of the new plants we already have. Fernymoss actually has this weekend off so we're probably going to get some new plants, do some digging and weeding and get down to business ... then fire up the grill for the season! Can't wait to cook my first pork tenderloin on the grill this year ... that's our new favorite, and after all, if it's summer (with the World Pork Expo coming up in early June), we gotta have our tasty Iowa Pork! It's right up there with the sweet corn, but we'll have to wait a bit longer for that, I'm afraid ...

Fritillaria michailovskyi

I'm a bit late getting this post up, as these little ones have already done their thing and moved on for the season ... if you're a regular reader you'll recall I was lamenting the non-appearance of our larger Crown Imperial Frtilliarias back in April. But our dwindling, if faithful, colony of Fritillaria michailovskyi (for some scant growing information go here) did manage to put on a nice little show this year.

These examples have been where they are for at least six or so years, and haven't naturalized to the extent we would have liked, but they're going to be moved over the course of the summer into a newly constructed bulb bed, where we hope they will be happier.

These fritillarias are pretty cold hardy, and people seem to plant them a lot in rock garden type spaces, though we prefer to just let them have their spot toward the front of the bed, where though not the splashiest of flowers, they do attract attention!

More diminutive than their larger cousins the Crown Imperials, these fritillarias originally native to Turkey and Iran definitely deserve their place in the serious bulb collector's garden where they make a perfect complement to the Snowdrops (Galanthus) who usually precede them by a couple of weeks. Again this year was an exception and they appeared later, but we were just happy to see them return! If you're interested in a good source for these, and other fritillarias, the following link will take you to a good supplier who has a lot of great species (at reasonable prices too).