New Releases

Fritillaria meleagris

Snake's head fritillary, checkered lily

I rather impulsively planted some snake’s head fritillary bulbs in our tiny front yard under a Japanese maple two autumns ago, and watching their lithe but deceptively durable forms emerge last spring set me on a quest to populate the back woodland garden with them as well. After a late start from an annoyingly protracted cold season this year, they’re coming on strong, embellishing the matrix of deciduous fall leaves and Pacific bleeding heart with a calligraphic elegance. As with a few spring ephemerals such as tulips and trout lilies, I sometimes find the closed or perhaps only partially opened buds to be even more graceful (from a photogenic standpoint, at least) than the fully opened blooms themselves.

From Grow