Fritillaria

Fritillaria blossom

This quirky, elegant flower came into our world a few years ago.  Flowers needed to be done for a dinner party, the garden was bare, and nothing in the cut flower area was particularly eye-catching.  Our next stop was the nursery, where these little beauties came into view. 

We love checking the nursery to look for flowers for arrangements for many reasons.   Oftentimes, the cost is much less than the cost of a similar sized cut flower arrangement.  Also, because they are still alive and growing in their own soil, they last much longer.   We really like the more natural appearance that plants in their soil can bring to the indoors.  Finally, we like getting 2 uses for 1 expense: once the flowers have died off indoors, most plants can be planted outdoors where they can grow and produce flowers and foliage for years.

For this party we used the Fritillaria in two ways.  We cut the flowers off many of the plants and placed a few in each of the bright green glasses which were displayed down the center of the two long dining tables.  Simple, very colorful and fun:

We planted a few more of the plants into a lined punch bowl along with some British Daisies and placed them on the piano.  We loved the wild tangles of stalks.

When we were finished, we felt badly about the “de-flowered” plants, they looked so bare. We couldn’t just abandon them.   So, we found them a home, in the garden, beneath the lilac trees.   Now, every year, in the late spring, these elegant checkered darlings pop up to say “hello”. 

There are a few varieties of Fritillaria, this is called meleagris or the Checkered Lily.  Can you believe the checks on these beautiful bells??

The plants are native to North America, Europe and Asia.  Bulbs can be planted in the fall, they like more porous soil and can tolerate damp climates.  Other varieties of Fritillaria grow better in warmer, drier climates.

Here are some quick and beautiful arrangements we made with Fritillarias lately (it took about 10 minutes to make each of these arrangements):

We wanted to enjoy their tall, elegant stems, so we planted them in clear, apothecary-like glass containers. 

To do this we thinly lined the inside of the glass containers with moss — tearing it apart a little to thin it out.

and lightly packed moss around the soil to cover it.