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Gardeners World
Guernsey Donkey2
Posts: 6,713
in Plants
At the very start of GW tonight, Monty had some lovely tall - striking, yellow flowers in the garden and the screen also showed us red of the same variety. I can't for the life of me remember their name - can anyone point me in the right direction please?
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Crown fritillaria
Lovely weren't they? I think he referred to them as Crown Imperials.
Fritillaria imperialis commonly known as crown imperial.
They do have a slightly odd smell which some people aren't keen on. So it might be worth sniffing one at the garden centre before taking the plunge, or planting them where they are out of nose.
Also fascinating is that if you lift one of the flowers and look inside, right up the top are a number of 'dewdrops' of nectar. They seem just to hang there defying gravity and, if you shake them out, they reappear almost instantaneously.
Well worth growing but they aren't too keen on heavy wet soils.
They'd be great near your new pond GD. Sunny spot and rich, well drained soil for them
Great specimen plant in the border for this time of year.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Watch out for Lily beetles on them though.
I love that fritillary scent
In the sticks near Peterborough
I remember a few people saying this week that they had trouble getting them to flower again
monty did say crown imperials, but i often wish they would put something on the screen so we can read what we are looking at. I would have liked to see more of the garden carol visited, and she walked past a stunning pink shrub. Ill have to watch it again - couldnt make out what it was.
If you do buy some, the bulb is large with a hollow area at tha top. Plant th ebulb on its side so this hollow does not collect water and rot.,
Berghill, the main reason I avoid them and have dug up my lilies, I cannot stand those lily beetles.
I have such a small garden... I get the creeping ab-dabs if I think they are around.