F. meleagris - the checker lily or snake's head are my favorites and do very well in my climate and soil conditions. Also grew F. michailovskyi in my old garden - love that color combination!! - but haven't yet added any to my new place. Grew persica once - a little too somber for me - and I wasn't upset when it failed to return in following years. Can't say as I am attracted to the crown imperials - a bit too 'over the top' in flower form and color for me :-)) Plus they dislike our rainy season and tend to rot easily, even in well drained soils.

I love the pictures of the flowers in the wild! I have no fritillaria, but I will soon.

I ordered these from Van Engelen. I'm planning to put the meleagris on the shaded area between my home and my neighbor. I don't rake that area so it has rich soil, but it is on a slope so hopefully good drainage.

FRITILLARIA MELEAGRIS ALBA 1x50

FRITILLARIA PERSICA 1x5

I hope others can chime in with their pictures and experience!

That's something seeing the checkered lilies in the wild. There are few native bulbs in my area and it seems just a little exotic!

Despite my less than perfect growing conditions for most bulbs they seem to like it here. Damp meadow might describe where they are for the first few weeks of spring and the poor drainage doesn't set them back at all. I'm hoping to see a few seedlings bloom one of these years.

the other ones seem much less excited about being forced to live here. The imperialis abdicated and I'll be surprised if they return next year. I said I was going to mulch them in lime and see if that helped, but two years later and it has yet to happen. I'm not even sure how a roaring success would look but I think I would be extremely smug about it if it were to occur here.

For other frit species I have a few seedlings which have yet to die. Maybe blindly sowing seeds and throwing them out into the wilderness of the garden will pay off some day, but eventually I think I'll need to do the lime. In my defense I did buy a bag this spring and you would think just opening and spreading a bit wouldn't be such a struggle, but my laziness knows few bounds.

I bught the expensive!! crown imperial bulbs two different years, planted them in different spots, and they failed to come up. I give up!!!

Fritillarea meleagris used to do great for me, but the lily beetles have made a dent in them, even though I hand pick them daily in season.

True story about crown imperials: a lady I knew in Holland took some visitors from Cambodia to see the famous Keukenhof. They loved it, but they wondered, seeing there were so many shapes and colours in tulips already, why the hybridizers would want to breed ones with hanging flowers and the leaves on top...