Fritillaria meleagris (Snake's Head Fritillary)

Fritillaria meleagris (Snake's Head Fritillary)
Fritillaria meleagris (Snake's Head Fritillary)
  • Plant Details

    Aspect: Full Sun

    Soil Type: Most Types

    Colour: Purple & Brown & White

Fritillaria meleagris (Snake's Head Fritillary)

An attention grabbing perennial flower which is classed as native, although Gerard (1597) says it was introduced by his friend Jean Robin. 

Plants are extremely hardy and trouble-free, and are ideal for growing in a variety of situations including containers, sunny spring borders and in wildflower meadows or areas of long grass.

Flowers in March and April and can be cut for the vase. Although mostly purple, occasionally you may get a white version. 

Called the Chequered Daffodil by Gerard because the flowers are "like the board at which men play at chesse". Also known as the Ginny hen flower because the markings are like those of a guinea fowl. Another name is Leopard Lily, a corruption of leper lily, because the bell-shaped flowers were reminiscent of lepers' bells.

Like Daffodils and other spring bulbs, the foliage dies back after flowering and they remain dormant until the following spring.

Height: 30cm

Common name: Snake's Head Fritillary; Chequered Lily; les Chequered Daffodil; Leopard or Leper Lily; Ginny Hen Flower.

Supplied in a 9x10cm pot. Please note that these plants may have moss/liverwort on the compost. This is encouraged as it helps to protect the bulbs and keep them moist.

 

Photo 1: User Hasse A on sv.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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All our plants are supplied in 9cm pots unless otherwise specified. Plants in this size pot establish quickly in the garden and often outpace plants in bigger pots planted at the same time. Our potted plants can be planted immediately, unless otherwise noted, or you can leave them in their pots until you are ready to plant.
The majority of our plants are grown outdoors. This means that they follow their natural growth patterns and are ready to plant at any time of the year. If you order the plants in winter, they are likely to be dormant and died back to ground level, ready to shoot again in spring - just like the herbaceous perennials in your own garden. Very occasionally, in winter and early spring, we may indicate on the packing slip that a plant needs to be hardened off before planting out. This will be because it has just come out of a polytunnel. If you have any questions about our plants or growing methods, please feel free to drop us an email.
We grow most of what we sell ourselves, in our nursery in the Buckinghamshire countryside. Our prices include VAT at 20%.
Please note: We do our best to provide acurate photographs of the plants we sell, but colours display differently on different screens and printers and in different light and we cannot guarantee that what you are seeing on your screen, or on the plant label provided, will exactly match the plant when it flowers in your garden. Plant dimensions are given as a guide only and the actual sizes reached may vary from garden to garden, depending on local conditions.

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