Fritillaria 2012

I have F. stenathera year old seedlings just coming up in pots in the last couple days.  

Roland, how old would you say those beauties of yours are?  I don't think I have ever seen such superbly grown specimens!

They are five years old seedlings
I got them from a Dutch friend

I hope there is plenty of seeds to share this summer

Roland

bulborum wrote:

Here Fritillaria stenanthera starts flowering
for me still one of the most beautiful ones

Roland

I fully agree! And if you get enough seed . . . . .

The ones interested in seed
just pm me your address

and I send the seeds this summer (if there are seeds set)

Roland

Thanks, Roland ;)

Roland,
this colony of Frits is lovely with the slight variation in colour.
How do you cultivate them?
I've had them germinate before but have never got them to flowering size. What hints can you give?
You already have my address  ;D
cheers
fermi

Fermi I put you on the list

I grow them in bulb potting-mixture
I will post the mix later

I am not home but in Toulouse for a plant-show
as far as you heart about it
there was a shooting here
but the killer (he killed 6 or 7 people last weeks in Toulouse) is killed today
so everything is save now
and people can save come to the show

Roland

Roland, awesome F. stenanthera! 

I would be exploring more Frits were it not for lily beetle that are so attracted to them.  I do have a few species, and I keep a watchful eye and hand-pick any lily beetles seen.

Fritillaria pudica is in bloom here, but this year I'm disappointed to discover more than half of my colony has disappeared :(  In the photo, there's a gap between the flowering plants on the left and right, the plants inbetween are gone.  I also had numerous younger plants from scratched-in-seed, although most of these have disappeared to.  Not sure why the partial loss, the've been happy where they are, seeding and bulking up over the past 10 years.

Left photo:  Fritillaria pudica. In the lower left is the foliage of Tulipa bifloriformis, in the center are Tulipa seedlings (3 year).
Right photo: view of F. pudica and the silvery leaves of T. bifloriformis, the buds have yet to open (that I know of), still waiting for sun, the colony of this small early blooming Tulipa widened quite a bit from sowing seed in situ.

In this photo, at top-center is the foliage (there are buds too, but they can't be seen) of F. crassifolia ssp. kurdica, and in the lower center, is a colony of 2-year old seedlings of that Frit, where I have direct-sown seeds.  I find that sowing seed directly in the garden to be very successful, as one can see from this small thicket of little gray spears, "no fuss no muss" gardening.  In the same bed are many seedlings of crocus species and other choice bulbs.

McDonough wrote:

Fritillaria pudica is in bloom here, but this year I'm disappointed to discover more than half of my colony has disappeared :(  In the photo, there's a gap between the flowering plants on the left and right, the plants inbetween are gone.  I also had numerous younger plants from scratched-in-seed, although most of these have disappeared to.  Not sure why the partial loss, the've been happy where they are, seeding and bulking up over the past 10 years.

I wonder if Fritillaria spp. have the propensity to skip a season(or more) of above ground growth, like many Lilium spp.?  Even undisturbed, I have had that happen with multiple species of lilies.

Roland,and Mark
Nice plants!

Here is the reginal form of F. pudica found along the eastern Sierras.

Mark, you have such wonders in your garden!  I love the "sow-in-place" philosophy.
F. pudica in nature, with the contrast of snow, is fantastic - the flowers seem to glow.  Excellent photos, John!

Do you grow anything else with the bulbs Mark? I have a small bed in our lawn which is mainly devoted to bulbs inspired by the bulb walk at Sissinghurst. But it becomes bare in the summer so I have some small later flowering perennials amongst the bulbs. These look pretty special species so I imagine need more space - will be really nice to see how those direct sown colonies develop; I have only done this with snowdrops and it has been very effective.

A few examples on the bulb bed:-

Fritillaria kotschyana
Scilla melaina
Muscari pseudomuscari
Fritillaria elwesii

John, great photos, and such a compact form, looking very different in growth than mine, beautiful juxtaposed with snow.  I originally got mine as "rice grains" at 10 for $1 from Jane McGary, about 20 rice grains came, quite a bargain and fun to wait 4-5 years to maturity.

I remember finding dwarf plants in full flower in the Wenatchee Mountains, Washington, literally growing in running water (spring snow melt), areas that would be bone dry in a few weeks.  It kept good company, commingling with Olsynium douglasii in various shades of purple and pink.

Tim, many of my bulbs are planted in Hibiscus syriacus "shrub rings", late-to-leaf tap-rooted shrubs that are perfect for underplanting with bulbs. I like the idea of growing small bulbs this way, I enjoy seeing crocus bulk up into floriferous clumps, jumping right out of the soil.  Each year I enlarge the rings a bit to make room for more bulbs and sown-in-place bulb seed ;)  In the summer, when all bulbs are dormant and the dried foliage wisked away, the mulched bed is a simple backdrop for the real focus of the mid-summer to autumn season, the extravaganza of bloom on Hibiscus syriacus (selected single-flowered forms like 'Blue Bird').  A happy combination.

Oh, by the way Tim, Fritillaria elwesii is most elegant the way the flowers are displayed, its been added to my list :)

Wow John, such healthy and bulked up looking frits!  The color is so vivid!

Tim, your F. elwesii is so artistic: it's like it's not even real...
----------------------------
Some Fritillaria camschatcensis seedlings, 3 years old I think, are looking nice.  (Once again, I never said I am an attentive grower.)  Seed from the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska.

I have almost given up frits as they are excellent slug food except the common Snake's head. But you guys give me the spur to try again!
And Mark, although Hibiscus syriacus do overwinter here it don't like our cool summers so flowers are rare :-\

I can't claim much credit for the Frit. elwesii; it is actually a potful that came from Jim Archibald's greenhouse when I visited him a few years ago, and so it holds rather a good memory! Kevin Pratt, who co-wrote a book on Fritillarias, describes many species that might grow successfully in the garden and I am trying more and more from seed (like raddeana and eduardii and affinis, which is wonderfully variable and a good doer), but it will be quite a few years before any of these show any flowers. Fortunately (touch wood) we don't suffer badly from slugs, but do have Lily beetle!

What is the worse - slugs or beetles :-\

Thank all of you for your kind comments about my photos of the pudica. It won't be long now and they will be hard to spot as their season is nearly over. I usually can spot them out of the corner of my eye. You walk along head bowed scanning the brush and dead cheatgrass, then eureka a flash of yellow, among the drab grays of spring, catches your eye. Always a pleasure to see and smell. They have a sweet fragrance similar to Asiatic lilies but much more muted in it's intensity.

Slugs are worse
often they cut the flower-stem (one or more years lost)
and are more difficult to trace
lily-beetles are easy to handle
and just eat a piece of the leafs or flowers (before I kill them)     

R

Seems like the red lily beetle larvae may head for the bulb at some stage, and leave nothing.  Al least I've had some (lily) plants totally disappear without an alternative explanation.
Charles Swanson MA USA

I've never heard of lily beetle larvae eating anything but above ground parts.  I could be wrong, though.  I have seen slugs eat lily bulbs, even here in Minnesota where it is drier than Massachusetts.  I'll bet that that is a more probable scenario.

Hoy wrote:

What is the worse - slugs or beetles :-\

Slugs are by far the worse of the two.  Having gardened in one of the slug capitals of the world for four years, the Puget Sound area of Washington State, where hordes of "banana slugs" as big as cigars ravage herbaceous plants nightly (daily too, when it's rainy), I'd much rather be in a drier climate where slugs are not a major concern, if at all. 

At least lily beetles are small and festively colored (although the larvae that can hatch if the eggs are left to develop are gross), and the beetles can be hand-picked and disposed up without much fuss.  The plant types they attack is relatively few, versus the much broader range of plants attacked by slugs.  And besides, I find oversized slugs and their oversized abundance of slime just plain disgusting, and squishing them borders on being a nightmarish experience.

This year the lily beetles showed up extra early, no doubt brought about by the two weeks of summer-in-winter temperatures, I found them on the emerging shoots of Frits.  Killed the ones I found, but after the return to reality and back to freezing temperatures, I haven't seen any since.

Rick, that's one fine pot of Fritillaria camschatcensis you show there.  Maybe next year you'll be able to show us some bloom, isn't the anticipation the best part!

Two views today of F. crassifolia ssp. kurdica taken today, the first showing the main plant in bud, love the gray curling foliage and low downturned flower stems.  The second is a repeat of a view showing sown-in-place 2nd year seedlings of the same Frit, taken with my wife's new Canon Powershot digital camera.

Those bulbs look really happy Mark! I've never managed to establish crassifolia in our garden but it is a wonderful species in foliage and flower (mind you nearly all frits. are when you get hooked on them I think, such extraordinary and unique flowers).

RickR wrote:

I wonder if Fritillaria spp. have the propensity to skip a season(or more) of above ground growth, like many Lilium spp.?  Even undisturbed, I have had that happen with multiple species of lilies.

Well I just answered my own question:
  Last season I thought I lost my white form of Fritillaria meleagris, as it never showed above ground, even though it had flowered multiple years before.
  This year it is back strong.  (Left:white form, right: purple.)  Also in the pic is, Hieracium villosum, Fibigia clypeata, a single sprig of Penstemon cobaea, and Gentiana septemfida.

RickR wrote:

RickR wrote:

I wonder if Fritillaria spp. have the propensity to skip a season(or more) of above ground growth, like many Lilium spp.?  Even undisturbed, I have had that happen with multiple species of lilies.

Well I just answered my own question:
  Last season I thought I lost my white form of Fritillaria meleagris, as it never showed above ground, even though it had flowered multiple years before.
  This year it is back strong.  (Left:white form, right: purple.)  Also in the pic is, Hieracium villosum, Fibigia clypeata, a single sprig of Penstemon cobaea, and Gentiana septemfida.

What a relief, Rick ;)

Looks pretty dry there, do you lack rain?

Fritillaria hybrids flowering now.

They are a result of a hybridisation program involving F. eduardii, F. imperialis and F. raddeana

Breeders website: www.keizerskroon.net

And here comes the pictures...

My Fritillaria meleagris flowering now, also my double flowred alba. I got it several years ago from a friend as found it in a garden with a old farm.

Nice plants, Poulsen.  I would imagine the hybrids are hardier and more vigorous?
And welcome to the forum!!

Karl, I have never heard of a Fritllaria meleagris with reflexed petals.
Very pretty, though.

Some of my white F meleagris have a tendency to reflex their petals. I'll try to take picture of one.
Here are the common types and a double (with two double flowers to the stem) that popped up in my garden.

Here's one of the hite ones. The flower is more open and reflexed than the red ones. And they flower about a week later too!

Another entry regarding Fritillaria camschatcensis.  These are grown from my own seed produced by plants given to me from the upper panhandle of Alaska.   To make a long story short, they were accidentally fertilized with a concentrated fertilizer, and after repeated drenches of clear water and a few days, it was clear they were still not at all happy.  I unpotted them, rinsed them off and potted them up again in a fresh medium.  Certainly not a good way to grow them, but it did offer me a chance to examine the bulbs.  So continues my fascination with plant anatomy...

I have to say, these have gone through a lot of abuse in their life... they are already five years old!  From the original seedling pot being misplaced, to being completely overun by liverworts, with a couple dozen plants plants in a four inch pot for four years, I think they have done pretty well.  In the fall of 2010 these (and four others) were transplanted into a 3.5 x 3.5 x 5 inch deep pot.  They certainly responded well after that.  Clearly, one can see the strong delineation of the larger scales, verses the smaller scales that were produced earlier.  

Rick, given what those plants had to endure, they look totally healthy, surprising to see so many bulblets (is that the right term with Frits?).  Thanks for taking the time and effort to show so clearly what the plants are up to underground; most educational.  

Just yesterday I dug up Arisaema amurense 'Jagged Edge' (dwarf form found and named by Darrell Probst) that was being swamped by an Epimedium, there were lots of new tubers so it is spreading nicely (albeit unnoticed, under the exuberant epimedium foliage), and I thought I should take some photos of my replanting effort, but with muddy hands, swatting at mosquitos, and daylight waning, I stayed on task and finished my replanting without photos.

Shown is the slow growing Fritillaria unibracteata, one of the few correctly labeled items obtained in my one and only order to Chen Yi nine years ago.  It has finally made a few offsets, and this spring I moved one plant to my woodland & Epimedium bed, where it is setting a nice fat pod (although it feels empty to the touch).  

Ps: Trond, I like the flared white F. meleagris, an elegant flower.

McDonough wrote:

Rick, given what those plants had to endure, they look totally healthy, surprising to see so many bulblets (is that the right term with Frits?).

The number of scales (at least that's what they are called with lilies) didn't surprise me too much, as I had seen the poor things in earlier years when I remove a layer of liverworts from a former pot, and the bulbs were then exposed.  It seems F. camschatcensis, as a species, normally has more than other (most?) frits, too.

McDonough wrote:

Thanks for taking the trime and effort to show so clearly what the plants are up to underground; most educational. 

Bulbs are beautiful things, too!
http://allthingsplants.com/thread/view/4020/Species-Lily-Bulbs/?offset=0

Well, I finally have flowers on F. camschatcensis, after years and years of seeing one leaf!
 

Lori, you are still luckier than me ;)

Here it is the other way: I buy a nice bulb and it may flowers the first season if the slugs don't find it but then it is doomed and diminishes each year . . . . . .

The conversation regarding allthingsplants.com and the photo gallery has been moved here:  :)
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=1098.0

-- moderator

Hoy wrote:

I fully agree! And if you get enough seed . . . . .

Hello Hoy

there aren't plenty seeds
but I can send you some seeds
just PM your address

Roland

Taken this afternoon --Frit aurea.
Yummy  :P

Cheers Dave.

Dave, that one is a beauty, a species I've always wanted to grow.

Me too. And I have tried :-\

Hoy wrote:

Me too. And I have tried :-\

McDonough wrote:

Dave, that one is a beauty, a species I've always wanted to grow.

Thanks guys
I've not found it easy --lost a few over the years to rot..

On the other hand this one is far more accommodating --shot today of Fritillaria kotschyana in a pot --i have it also in a couple of troughs where it increases well.

Cheers Dave.

Maybe I should try this one! Don't need a ladder to look at the flower, anyway ;)

Dave, that Fritillaria kotschyana is a charmer!

Hoy wrote:

Maybe I should try this one! Don't need a ladder to look at the flower, anyway ;)

Hoy ---up until a couple days ago the pot was on top of our water tank ,(currently the sunniest spot in the property),..... and that situation required a step ladder .... ;D ;D  

McDonough wrote:

Dave, that Fritillaria kotschyana is a charmer!

Hopefully i'll have time the next day or two Mark to take a pic of it showing the flowering further on ,with petals divided from each other and the tips curved outwards.

Cheers Dave.

Toole wrote:

Hoy ---up until a couple days ago the pot was on top of our water tank ,(currently the sunniest spot in the property),..... and that situation required a step ladder .... ;D ;D  

Cheers Dave.

Dave, I remember that photo you posted (many months ago) showing the plants aloft.  When a gardener (also from down under, by coincidence) on another forum complained he had no room left and had to move pots just to get to others, I showed him that pic! ;D

RickR wrote:

Toole wrote:

Hoy ---up until a couple days ago the pot was on top of our water tank ,(currently the sunniest spot in the property),..... and that situation required a step ladder .... ;D ;D  

Cheers Dave.

Dave, I remember that photo you posted (many months ago) showing the plants aloft.  When a gardener (also from down under, by coincidence) on another forum complained he had no room left and had to move pots just to get to others, I showed him that pic! ;D

:D :D

Here's Frit Kostchyana at full flowering --pic taken yesterday on a cloudy dull day.

Cheers Dave

Toole wrote:

Hoy wrote:

Maybe I should try this one! Don't need a ladder to look at the flower, anyway ;)

Hoy ---up until a couple days ago the pot was on top of our water tank ,(currently the sunniest spot in the property),..... and that situation required a step ladder .... ;D ;D 

Cheers Dave.

Well, I hadn't thought of that possibility  ;D (In fact I was thinking of Rick's tall plant)

It's been Fritillaria seed  planting time for me, and the deed is all done.  Yesterday I also finished repotting fritillaria seedlings.  I would have waited another year, but I was afraid the soil mix was too heavy, and they were suffering because of it.  So I am trying an new media, Fafard 52 mix that is much more airy, as the base for my ammended soil. Once again, you all get to trudge through with me in my fascination with underground structures.  At this stage, the different species look a lot alike, especially in the photographs.

The same batches of Fritillaria seed, at least for me, have more of a habit of sprouting multiple years than most other genera.  Sometimes one year can make a big difference:
Fritillaria pallidiflora - 2 & 3 year seedlings.
             

Sometimes a little difference:
F. pyrenaica - 1 & 2 year, F. carica - 1 & 2 year, F. pallidiflora - 1 & 2 year.
       
             

Some not much difference:
F. collina - 1 & 2 year seedlings.
             

The smallest ones, F. montana.  Had I been more observant, I wouldn't have repotted these, being only one season old, but in my haste it just...  happened.
             

A representative Fritillaria camschatcensis.  This one likes the moisture retentive soils and is treated differently.
             

You can see some fragile new roots on some bulbs.  I suspect they would be more robust in the right soil mix, and it probably would have been better if I repotted earlier, before they emerged.  Roots on the F. camschatcensis, however, seemed to not be in a yearly growth and death cycle.  They seem quite perennial.  Are there other Frits that do this?  

Great pics and information Rick.

Here are a few out at the moment ....

A nice coloured form of F.acmopetala.
F.cirrhosa.
F.conica.
F.crassifolia i think.
F.drenovskii.

Cheers Dave.

A really nice, varied grouping, Dave.  And such perfect flowers! 

Thanks for taking the very detailed pics, too.

Very Nice Dave.

Rick, it is interesting to see the bulbs although still small! I have not dared trying many Frits from seed yet but are tempted!

Very nice, Dave! Seems I have to try more seed though to get all those kinds ;D

I am on my third year of sowing the seed in pure seramis (I use cat litter) as shown by Wisley. So far the results are super with very strong growing bulbs being formed. I have sown in small pots are then potted on the resulting seedlings which is easy for me on a small scale.

I am hopeful of my first flowers in year four on crassiflolia and erhartii.

Tony wrote:

I am on my third year of sowing the seed in pure seramis (I use cat litter) as shown by Wisley. So far the results are super with very strong growing bulbs being formed. I have sown in small pots are then potted on the resulting seedlings which is easy for me on a small scale.

I am hopeful of my first flowers in year four on crassiflolia and erhartii.

Never heard of seramis before. Is it cat sand?

Google seramis and you will find a desription.

It is quite expensive and  'non clumping' cat litter is made of the same stuff and much cheaper.

The theory was written up in the Wisley Alpine Log but I cannot find the article but it was also in the September 2009 Plantsman

Thanks. I have The Plantsman - have to dig out that issue ;D - and go looking for cat litter sand :o

A few more ....

An early Frit. affinis -- others in troughs elsewhere in the garden are a couple of weeks away from blooming.

Raised from seed as F.hispanica which i think is now called F.lusitanica........

and a nice black form of F.acmopetala.

Cheers Dave.

Nice Frits Dave.

Those are some big anthers on F. affinis! 

Did everyone notice the rippling of the petal edges on that one?
Way cool, Dave!  8)

RickR wrote:

Those are some big anthers on F. affinis! 

Did everyone notice the rippling of the petal edges on that one?
Way cool, Dave!  8)

I have to agree Rick, the F. affinis Dave shows us is superb, such a distinctive species in its own right, but this form is really fine and so well grown, I'm jealous!

Michael wrote:

Nice Frits Dave.

Thanks Michael.

RickR wrote:

Those are some big anthers on F. affinis! 

Did everyone notice the rippling of the petal edges on that one?
Way cool, Dave!  8)

Gee Rick -- you are so observant  :) This was it's first flowering from seed ---in view of your comments i went and viewed my pics of the other F.affinis that flower later on here --none of those show rippling of the petal edge ......

McDonough wrote:

I have to agree Rick, the F. affinis Dave shows us is superb, such a distinctive species in its own right, but this form is really fine and so well grown, I'm jealous!

Thanks Mark --hopefully it will set seed so i can pass it around.

Cheers Dave.

Most  Frit. affinis of the type shown by Dave Toole  - which used to be known as F. lanceolata  and F.  lanceolata tristulis-  usually have those marvelous reptilian ripples on the petal edges. It really highlights the waxy, sturdy nature of the blooms. 

Maggi

IMYoung wrote:

Most  Frit. affinis of the type shown by Dave Toole  - which used to be known as F. lanceolata  and F.  lanceolata tristulis-  usually have those marvelous reptilian ripples on the petal edges. It really highlights the waxy, sturdy nature of the blooms. 

Maggi

Thanks Maggi --I'm still learning --in fact i think I'll always be 'an apprentice of many and a master of none'  :'( as my horticultural interests are so wide .

Now if it was NZ natives alpines we were talking about .............................................................. I'd probably still need help ! ;D  ;)

Kind regards to 'Scottie'.

Cheers Dave.

IMYoung wrote:

Most  Frit. affinis of the type shown by Dave Toole  - which used to be known as F. lanceolata  and F.  lanceolata tristulis-  usually have those marvelous reptilian ripples on the petal edges. It really highlights the waxy, sturdy nature of the blooms. 

Maggi

Meant to say - don't they remind you of Rick R's. 'little shop of horrors' plant  in his avatar ? ;) ;D

"Scottie" says long time no see, T00lie- hopes you are well and looking forward to a great summer.

M

The first leaves on Fritillaria davidii are well underway now. Hoping for flowers in this pot this coming spring. ;D

Hello Ron (Longma), welcome to NARGS Forum.  I really like the net-textured leaves of this species, have admired beautiful pots of them on SRGC and elsewhere, it's on my list of frits to try.

By the way, please excuse the delay in processing NARGS Forum registration requests, Thursday was Thanksgiving Day holiday here in the US, with family visiting, and then I'm still needing to work overtime in preparation for a major convention next week.

McDonough wrote:

Hello Ron (Longma), welcome to NARGS Forum.  I really like the net-textured leaves of this species, have admired beautiful pots of them on SRGC and elsewhere, it's on my list of frits to try.

By the way, please excuse the delay in processing NARGS Forum registration requests, Thursday was Thanksgiving Day holiday here in the US, with family visiting, and then I'm still needing to work overtime in preparation for a major convention next week.

Thanks very much Mark.
It is a most unusual Fritillaria, but not very difficult to grow ( flowering it is another thing! ). It has roots almost all year round and needs to be kept  moist to very moist, in an open free draining 'woodsy' style mix. I have a number in pots and they are outside spring, summer, fall then into a shaded greenhouse for winter when I keep them on the drier side, until flowering ( hopefully!) in spring. Is it allowed to send 'rice grains' to USA? If so let me know in spring if you'd like me to send some in summer.
I completely forgot  :rolleyes:  :rolleyes: that Thursday was Thanksgiving Day holiday. I hope you and all Forum members had a wonderful holiday.   I am very pleased to be here now, am looking forward to learning, and hope I can contribute in some way.

While waiting for a new comprehensive fritillaria book  :( I found a series of these on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fritillaria-Falcata-Jesse-Russell/dp/551224969X/...

Do anyone have any experience with these. Can you find the same articles searching the Web?

I believe you don't have to wait much longer Arne. I have been led to understand that the long awaited Kew monograph on Fritillaria will be published next year ( 2013). ;)
I have also seen these titles, that you refer to, on Amazon and wonder what they are about. I follow the published papers re Fritillaria very carefully and cannot get a grasp on these offers. I think that if you have any questions regarding these Frits ( F.falcata etc. ), then much better to post your query on this forum, than pay for these 'whatevers'!! I am sure there are people here who can address any queries you have. ;D

Thanks, that was good news, I will save my money until then :) No praticular questions at the moment, more a search for knowledge.

A cold Norwegian summer and atumn has already got the first Fritillaria seeds to sprout here.

Arne

I'm saving my pocket money too Arne in anticipation of a quality publication. ;D ;D

The Frit sprouting is incredibly early and will certainly be damaged through the winter if exposed to your Norwegian climate. What species do you think it is? and what conditions are you able to give it? If its sprouted and then gets frozen it may not make it! :(

Arne wrote:

While waiting for a new comprehensive fritillaria book  :( I found a series of these on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fritillaria-Falcata-Jesse-Russell/dp/551224969X/...

Do anyone have any experience with these. Can you find the same articles searching the Web?

Hello Arne, welcome to the NARGS Forum!

Regarding the Amazon.com link, it is a strange and curious situation indeed.  I spent some time trying to figure out what these things are, they don't appear to be real books. Using a different link by searching on Google, I started down an intricate web of what appears to be nefarious scamming.  One link listed this "book" as "Publication Date: July 27, 2012, High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles!, by Ronald Cohn & Jesse Russell.

Googling the authors, leads to various booksellers, including Alibris, with hundreds up hundreds of books by Ronald Cohn & Jesse Russell, all of which have no details whatsoever and seem to be some sort of mysterious offering. Some are very high priced, none have been reviewed, many or most are in various languages, all are listed as published 2012.
To see the list, use this link (but don't buy, these are surely scam offerings):
http://www.alibris.com/search/books/author/Jesse%20Russell,%20Ronald%20Cohn

On a graphic image on the side on one Amazon link, it lists Bookvika publishing, on a 2nd image, Pubmix.com, and elsewhere found references to Book on Demand Ltd. (July 27, 2012).  There is indeed a new phenomenon called POD or Print on Demand, where publishers will print books by individual order, the technology today allowing books to be stored digitally and printed per order. But I think what we're seeing here in this case is a network of scam offers. See this user-response page on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/RB3IPJIBXIZW4
One reviewer wrote "Bookvika Publishing are well known scammers. All of their books are copied and pasted from Wikipedia articles. PLEASE DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY"

This link is showing that a large number of sites are basically lifting (stealing) Wikipedia information and selling it or posting it as their own information, sigh :(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Mirrors_and_forks/Abc#Bookvika_Pu...

So, Ron I'm glad you posted the news about an upcoming monograph on Fritillaria.  Do you know who the author(s) will be?  I know that when it comes out, I certainly must get a copy.

(PS: if much discussion on this book fraud situation, I can more it to its own topic. It is worth being aware of these shady dealings that somehow are allowed to carry out their business on respected sites like Amazon and Alibris)

That really is interesting foliage on F. davidii.  And very un-monocot looking!  :o

As you can see, Ron, our participants here span the gamut of know how.  That you "hope you can contribute in some way" is real understatement!  Welcome!

Luckily I have a frost free room in my garage with windows to set the sprouting seeds, so the lack of light in a dark winter will be the biggest challenge. Most of them were sown i January (oliqua, caucasica, verticillata) and one in September (striata). Same happened last year, from late November and onwards. I guess there will be more to come (I have plenty of pots with seeds).

Thankyou for welcome and furthrter information of the socalled books. I will certenly not buy any.

Arne

McDonough wrote:

So, Ron I'm glad you posted the news about an upcoming monograph on Fritillaria.  Do you know who the author(s) will be?  I know that when it comes out, I certainly must get a copy.

Mark - it has been the 'hot gossip' ( or should I be saying the 'skinny' or 'scuttlebutt' now I'm here ;D ) this year that the long awaited for Kew Monograph on Fritillaria by Martyn Rix is being completed by Bob Wallis and will be published next year. Rix's monograph has long been waited for and there have been numerous 'false dawns' I know. This time it is looking good. 8)

Thanks for the welcome Rick. I'm keen to learn from the wide range of 'know how' that is so obvious from a read through many wonderful posts. :)

Some nice species there Arne, including one of my 'loves', F.striata. This is usually the first of the Liliorhiza to show and flower for me here in UK. Usually this is in late December, but I know further south at ( Royal Horticultural Society Gardens ) Wisley they have had it emerge in early November.
http://www.alpinegardensociety.net/diaries/Wisley/+November+/237/

Then my F. striata seeds are not so early at all :) I had been looking for those seed for a while, seeds from the more unusual American fritts are not easy obtainable. These came from the Fritillaria Groups seed exchange.

Not so early at all Arne.  8) 8) ;D

I'm expecting my latest sowing of F.striata to be showing within the next few weeks also,  ;D ;D

I have sown most of my subgenus Liliorhiza seed now, but do have a few species left to sow. I find the latest sowing time here is end December, :)

PM me if you would like some of the species I have left.

Odd really Ron, I'd never thought of you as a fabled winged horse with dragon scales ;D

deesen wrote:

Odd really Ron, I'd never thought of you as a fabled winged horse with dragon scales ;D

Fire breathing as well David!

Frit davidii now seems quite well established in cultivation with flowering plants being shown.

I bought a bulb named as F. delavayi last January from China and it is clearly davidii. It was covered in rice grain bulbils which I took off. No growth occurred this year either on the parent bulb or the off sets but now this autumn they are in full growth as is another clone given me by a friend. None of my other frits are showing although root growth is visible through the bottom of the pots. Slugs just love the new growth on this species

Tony wrote:

It was covered in rice grain bulbils which I took off.

A good pointer Tony, for anyone receiving Fritillaria bulbs from China. If the bulb has these 'rice grains' then it can only be F.davidii, F.dagana, F. camschatcensis or F.maximowiczii. All but F.davidii are stoloniferous species ( only partly true in F.camschatcensis however, depending upon region ).
Good to hear that you have them established now. You must have quite a few if you removed all of the rice grains,  ;D ;)
I'll be looking to exchange some pollen in the spring time  ;)

Can anyone please help me track down the natural pollinators of the members of the subgenus Liliorhiza?

F.recurva and F.gentneri have Hummingbirds recorded in various articles. Is there a specific one species of bird? Can anyone verify this by personal observation please?

I know many NARGS members like to get out into the wilds, and enjoy the beautiful countryside of the West Coast. If anyone has any observations of insects on Fritillaria flowers ( something as simple as a bee or a fly etc. are perfectly OK ) I would dearly love to hear your observations / experiences.  :)
Records for these seem very sparse in the written record ( at least that I can find ). Any pointers in this direction would also be most welcome.

Thank you so much to those NARGS Forum members who have contacted me suggesting that this, Annas Hummingbird, is the pollinator of F.recurva and F. gentneri,  8) 8)

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Annas_Hummingbird/id

A most beautiful bird and that song is most unusual.  8) 8)

Love them to pop into my greenhouses to visit my flowers in Spring 2013  :o :o :o :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Thank you to all those members who passed on this information to me,  :)