Frits Are No Sweat

One of the biggest challenges I’ve had as a garden and horticulture writer is that I often write about things that happen in the garden weeks and months before they happen. It has nothing to do with deadlines, but rather with the fact than many of our garden plants have to be planned for and planted long before they bestow their pleasures.

One of the most striking examples is when it’s nearly 90 degrees out, the ground is parched and my job is to tempt you into planting something that will bloom eight months from now when the nights will be near freezing and the days struggling to reach 60 degrees.But this week I have the ultimate temptation for you. A spring-flowering, fall-planted bulb that can range from tall and dazzling to short and petite. A bulb that can produce flowers that you might even miss if you weren’t a gardener, to others that will catch the eye of someone yards away. And this is a bulb that you will never, ever have to worry about deer, rabbits, voles or squirrels eating. In fact, it may even keep them at bay for the short while that it is flowering. And if you haven’t figured it out yet the bulbs that I’m alluding to are the fritillarias.

With flowers ranging in size from less than an inch to nearly 5 inches across, the frits, which are in the lily family, all share at least one common trait. Their flowers, instead of facing up or out, nearly always hang down. This might lead you to think that with such a habit the flowers’ colors are not visible or exposed, but to the contrary this plant’s flowers display their colors on the outside of the flowers’ petals, and the colors can be intricately patterned, like those of the Fritillaria meleagris (also called the checkered lily), which have been compared to the coloration of a guinea hen feather, to the stately Fritillaria imperialis, with its bright bars or rings of brilliant yellow, red and orange on leafless stems up to 3 to 4 feet above the ground at a time when little else is flowering.

But as spectacular as these bulbs can be when in flower, they are easy to grow, and there seem to be about 15 varieties currently available, though the offerings can change from year to year. You may find three or four of the more common types in the better local garden centers, but for the more unusual types you’ll have to do some catalog shopping from places like johnscheepers.com, which has the largest selection, brentandbeckysbulbs.com, and whiteflowerfarm.com.

The bulbs need a sunny disposition—but keep in mind that these plants are growing and flowering early to mid-spring, when the foliage on many trees may not have leafed out yet. My frits are in areas that get full early season sun but are quite shaded later in the season, and this seems to be an acceptable situation, since the foliage dies back and the plants go dormant as the rest of the garden takes over.

Two things to remember, though. First, once planted they can be very difficult to move. Second, these are not flowers that you’ll be cutting to bring indoors. The flowers are not pleasantly scented, and that’s what makes them so rodent- and deer-proof, but their scent is a more than acceptable tradeoff for the show they put on.

The big daddy of the group is the Fritillaria imperialis, and you may find varieties named lultea (yellow), rubra maxima (red) and premier (orange). The stalks of this variety shoot up very quickly, and some years it seems to get 3 feet tall and flower in just a week. Then, if it stays cool, the flowers will last a week to 10 days.

This is the flower that’s depicted in many Dutch flower paintings and sketches. The yellow flowers are borne on green stems and the red on purplish stems. Each flower, referred to as a bell, has five “teardrops” inside, and there is a rare double form as well as a variegated leafed form. And if you want a frit that flowers even earlier, the F. raddeana is similarly stunning with greenish-yellow bells. Another species called eduardii flowers yet earlier, but it’s very rare in this country.

Fritillaria persica is not quite as tall, growing to only 3 feet, and is known as the Persian lily. It’s an heirloom that dates back to 1585 and is not as easy to grow as imperialis but shouldn’t be avoided. A mature plant can throw up as many as 30 florets, and this bulb is best planted in groups of three. It flowers early in the season and shouldn’t be put in spots known to be subject to late frosts.

Fritillaria meleagris, aka the checkered lily and the snake’s head fritillary, grows to only about 8 inches and looks great when planted in masses (they are inexpensive). The nodding bell flowers are checkered and veined, with the base color being either maroon or while. This frit needs well-drained soil, and mine do just fine planted about 10 feet from the trunk of an old maple tree that is limbed up and only gives very high shade. This species seems to tolerate shade … or light shade, more than any of the other frits.

One note of caution, though. The foliage is grass-like, and on more than one occasion I’ve found myself pulling at the foliage, remembering only at the last moment that this is the spot where F. meleagris is planted and not grass that’s escaped from the lawn. Other frits to look for are F. pallidiflora, F. michailovskyi, F. uva-vulpis and F. raddeana. You really can’t go wrong with these for ease of growing, early color and unique flowers. And maybe best of all … absolutely deer-proof.

But order them early and follow the planting directions for the correct planting depth. Then plant, wait for spring … and enjoy. Keep growing.