Fritillaria (Snake's Head)

Fritillaria (Snake’s Head): Everything To Plant, Care For And Propagate

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Fritillaria stands out for the almost chequered pattern of their flowers. We show you where the checkered flowers feel particularly comfortable and give you tips on planting, caring, and propagating.

With the Snake’s Head Flower, you will get a unique eye-catcher in your garden. The eye-catching check pattern of this early bloomer exists in many different shades. Here you will learn where the Fritillaria feels most at home, how to plant, care for, and propagate it and which varieties are available.

Fritillaria: Flowering Time, Origin And Characteristics

The Fritillaria meleagris belongs to the lily family (Liliaceae). Its flowering period lasts from mid-April to the beginning of May, whereby the individual flowers only last for about five days. The perennial bulbous plant has small bulbs with a diameter of about two centimeters. A shoot grows from this survival organ in spring, which develops into a reddish-brown stem that rises to a height of 15 to 30 centimeters.

Four to six narrow, pointed leaves stand alternately. One bell-shaped, hanging flower is usually formed per plant. The characteristic purple-white spotted pattern of the petals appears on closer inspection like the pattern of a Fritillaria or the feathering of a guinea fowl – the species name Meleagris means “pearl chicken spotted” after all.

snake's head fritillary

The natural area of origin of the Fritillaria flower stretches from Styria in Austria to Slovenia, Hungary, and Croatia to Romania. Also in Central and Northern Europe, the Chess Flower is at home today. Since its habitat is limited, however, it is found only rarely and in very specific locations. It feels most at home on meager wet meadows in the floodplains of rivers. In Germany, the Fritillaria flower is on the red list and belongs to the specially protected species.

Fritillaria Flower varieties

There are different varieties of the Fritillaria flower, which differ in their flower color. But the typical pattern can be seen in all varieties.

Red Fritillaria

  • Saturnus: Red-violet flower; clear pattern.
  • Mars: Deep red to purple flower; blue-green leaf.
  • Charon: Dark red to deep purple flower; light purple pattern.

White Fritillaria flowers

  • Alba: white blossom; plant pattern visible.
  • Aphrodite: White flower; plant pattern delicately recognizable; green lines.
  • Pomona: White with light purple; green lines.

All About Location And Procedure

In the garden, the Snake’s Head flower feels most comfortable in moist soil in a sunny to semi-shady location. However, if an adequate supply of water is ensured, it can also be planted in a planter and even kept indoors.

The bulbs of the flower must be planted between August and November at the latest. Place the bulbs at a depth of eight to ten centimeters. Then cover them with soil and press lightly. Always keep the soil moist.

Tip: To protect the bulbs from rotting, you can place them on a thin layer of sand, as this allows the water to drain away more easily.

Snake’s Head flowers are also suitable as house plants. However, it should be noted that they must always be kept moist and must not be exposed to strong temperature fluctuations or warm heating air. You should also replace the substrate every two years.

the Snake's Head flower

Care for Fritillaria flower

The Fritillaria flower, recognizable by its natural occurrence in wetlands, has a high water requirement and needs regular watering. Otherwise, it is very robust and easy to care for. In spring a small amount of fertilizer is useful to provide the checkered flower with all the important nutrients. Our Gardender organic flower fertilizer, for example, is ideal for this.

Care for Fritillaria flower

Alternatively, you can also use ready-made compost as a fertilizer in the garden. You can find all the important information about the different types of compost in our special article on the subject of “Compost as fertilizer”. After flowering, the checkered flower draws nutrients and storage substances from the leaves back into the bulb and withers.

Tip: As with other bulbous plants, you should not cut off the wilting parts of the plant immediately, as the bulb extracts valuable nutrients from them and thus builds up energy reserves for sprouting in the following year. Only when the foliage is completely yellowed can you remove the above-ground plant parts.

Wintering Fritillaria Flower

Are Snake’s Head actually perennial? In fact, the Fritillaria flower is hardy and perennial. Under the right conditions, it will even reproduce itself from year to year. With the right care, the bulbs can collect enough energy for new shoots the following year.

Snake’s Head bulbs are hardy and can easily hibernate in the flower bed. A mark with a small wooden stick helps to remember the place of the bulb and protects it from injuries during bed care or replanting.

water Fritillaria flower

Fritillaria flower propagate

Fritillaria can be propagated in two different ways. On the one hand, the vegetative propagation via breeding bulbs is suitable. To this one digs out the bulbs after the vegetative phase and the complete withering of the plants and separates afterward the laterally formed brood bulbs carefully from the main bulbs.

Make sure that the damage caused by the splitting is as small as possible. By separating the bulbs, you can easily obtain new bulbs of the flower. To prevent the young brood bulbs from drying out, you should replant them immediately after splitting and keep the soil moist.Fritillaria flower propagate

On the other hand, Fritillaria can be propagated by seeds. However, the seeds of the Snake’s Head flower are not easy to persuade to germinate – instructions for this can be found in the following tip.

Place the seeds individually on the substrate and cover them lightly with soil. The substrate must be moistened regularly. You should have a lot of patience when cultivating flowers from seeds, as it can take several years to develop until the first flowering.

Tip: How to make Snake’s Head flower seeds germinate?

After the seeds ripen in autumn you can harvest the seeds. Since the checkered flower is a pronounced cold germinator, the seeds must be stratified before sowing. This is a treatment that stimulates the seeds to germinate. Store the seeds in a warm place (18 to 20 °C) for about two weeks and then for four to six weeks at a temperature between 0 and 5 °C. This process stimulates the seeds to germinate and they can be sown directly afterward in growing containers.

How to make Snake's Head flower seeds

Toxicity And Bee-Friendliness Of The Fritillaria

Fritillaria is poisonous and should not be eaten under any circumstances. All parts of the plant, but especially the bulb, contain poisonous alkaloids such as imperialin.

You may have wondered whether the checkered flower is bee-friendly. Since the flower is only of short duration, it is actually only conditionally insect-friendly. Nevertheless, it blooms early and thus provides food for bees and bumblebees at a time when the overall food supply is still manageable.

Do you want to offer not only in the spring bees food, but all year round a basis of life and Nistmöglichkeiten to many insects Then you can use the insect-friendly seeds to create a colorful flower meadow into which the checkered flower blends in wonderfully?

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