Can anyone advise me.. I tried in vain to grow Snakes Head Fritillary years
ago when we lived in a different region. Heavy clay soil. Needles to to say
they didnt thrive. Now were in a Cumbria soil - and plenty of rain. Can I
grown this plant in pots, please, and what to do- what to avoid... Thanks

Marg

In message , The Brownie
writes
Can anyone advise me.. I tried in vain to grow Snakes Head Fritillary years
ago when we lived in a different region. Heavy clay soil. Needles to to say
they didnt thrive. Now were in a Cumbria soil - and plenty of rain. Can I
grown this plant in pots, please, and what to do- what to avoid... Thanks

Marg

Hi Marg,

In Dorset we have pretty heavy clay or the green variety. We have been
quite successful in growing Snakes Head Fritillary in a small wildflower
meadow created at the end of our garden. And they're gradually spreading
- but never quickly enough. I also collect the seeds and broadcast them
over the areas I want the SHF to populate but it takes some 3 or so
years (I believe) for the plants to flowers from seed.

IIRC the best place to see a field of SHF in England is in Oxfordshire
and I believe it is a heavy clay soil. Regardless - don't give up.
They're beautiful plants to grow.

Good luck - I suspect some of the much better informed members of this
group will be along shortly with some practical tips :-))
--
Gopher .... I know my place!

The Brownie writes
Can anyone advise me.. I tried in vain to grow Snakes Head Fritillary years
ago when we lived in a different region. Heavy clay soil. Needles to to say
they didnt thrive.

Why "needless to say"? I'm on heavy clay and mine thrive.

Now were in a Cumbria soil - and plenty of rain. Can I
grown this plant in pots, please, and what to do- what to avoid... Thanks


Given that mine are flourishing without any attention or any particular
thought, I'm at a loss to suggest what to do, but here goes ...

I'd have thought they'd be easier in the ground. They seem to do OK in
dappled shade (although the famous ones at Magdalen College are in a
meadow. Don't let them dry out completely in the summer. And it's easier
to start with plants - you get one guaranteed flowering, and you can see
where you planted them.
--
Kay

Gopher writes

In Dorset we have pretty heavy clay or the green variety. We have been
quite successful in growing Snakes Head Fritillary in a small
wildflower meadow created at the end of our garden. And they're
gradually spreading - but never quickly enough. I also collect the
seeds and broadcast them over the areas I want the SHF to populate but
it takes some 3 or so years (I believe) for the plants to flowers from seed.

Definitely! My 2-3 year-olds are still like fine grass.
--
Kay

They like clay, they like slight shade [ie not full sun all day], they like their feet damp but not wet. They can tolerate winter floods. The main Oxfordshire groups are both in river meadows.

Our best clump is in a border under a shrub, on the edge of a paved area, and it is seeding madly into all the available cracks.

I have not found that they appreciate pots at all!

In article , me@privacy says...
Can anyone advise me.. I tried in vain to grow Snakes Head Fritillary years
ago when we lived in a different region. Heavy clay soil. Needles to to say
they didnt thrive. Now were in a Cumbria soil - and plenty of rain. Can I
grown this plant in pots, please, and what to do- what to avoid... Thanks

Marg




The best way to establish them in a garden is to buy the corms in late
summer, do them up into pots ( lots in each)and place under the
greenhouse bench, protect from mice and keep just moist, in spring when
the shoots appear check for roots and as soon as you see roots plant the
out where you want them (they actually quite like a heavy soil) the
problem is that wild ones have their roots already at the time you are
able to buy the corms so they can cope with wet while the bare corms can
not and they need re hydrating slowly
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

Charlie Pridham writes
The best way to establish them in a garden is to buy the corms in late
summer, do them up into pots ( lots in each)and place under the
greenhouse bench, protect from mice and keep just moist, in spring when
the shoots appear check for roots and as soon as you see roots plant
the out where you want them (they actually quite like a heavy soil) the
problem is that wild ones have their roots already at the time you are
able to buy the corms so they can cope with wet while the bare corms
can not and they need re hydrating slowly

Thanks Charlie - that explains why I've had so much more success buying
them in the spring potted up and ready to flower. They've established
easily that way and spread into clumps, whereas corms planted into the
garden in late summer often disappear without trace.
--
Kay

Guess I am lucky.

Bought some bulbs last Autumn, put them into a Shady Corner of the lawn that
faces NW, and gets a bit boggy in the winter due to my poor lawn laying a
decade ago - (never worried as come April its fine again)

Anyway, up they came - stunning things.They are going to have a large number
of new pals for next year :-)

beccabunga wrote:
Gopher;851842 Wrote:

IIRC the best place to see a field of SHF in England is in Oxfordshire
and I believe it is a heavy clay soil. Regardless - don't give up.
They're beautiful plants to grow.

They like clay, they like slight shade [ie not full sun all day], they
like their feet damp but not wet. They can tolerate winter floods. The
main Oxfordshire groups are both in river meadows.

While generally Oxford is clay, next to the rivers it tends to be
thin and fairly infertile - perhaps Magdalen Meadow/etc are
different, but it was facinating to see the massive hole dug
recently for water storage tanks in the University Parks expose
just how little top soil there is covering the river gravel
underneath. The best photo I could find online showing this was
http://www.flickr.com/photos/browniebear/3418852833/

I have not found that they appreciate pots at all!

Mrs S has some that have done very well for at least the last 5
years in a pot, but she's naturally green-fingered (oh, and while I
mention her, she found her secateurs in a box of rubbish sacks!)

--
Selah