The Snake’s-head fritillary has been in full flower since the beginning of April. Like so many of our flowers this year, they are early. This fritillary is one of our most beautiful wild flowers, with its square-sided,
nodding bells, chequered in pink and white, resembling a
snakes’ scales. Some flowers are pure white, but you can still see their chequered
pattern, especially when the sun is low in the sky - kneel down, let the light of the sun shine through their beautiful translucent petals and see their delicate green chequered veins. Fritillaries are mainly inhabitants of damp meadows in the south of
England, particularly along the flood plains of the R. Thames, but they can now also be
seen in many of our gardens too. The first time that I ever saw an image of a snakeshead fritillary was during a visit to the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery at Glasgow University. I saw this painting by Rennie Mackintosh, done in his latter years, and knew that I wanted to find out where I could actually see and find it growing in the wild.
William Morris also captured it on one of his wallpaper designs, but it would have been very familiar to him. His country house, Kelmscott, sits alongside meadows in the Thames valley where they are found in abundance in just two or three floodplain meadows close to where he lived,
I still see these and find myself wondering at the beauty that nature demonstrates so abundantly!
ReplyDeleteTheir exquisite beauty pleases me every Spring just as much as it did when I saw them for the first time.
DeleteI must admit that when I first saw that chequered pattern in an illustration I thought that it was just the artists attempt at cross-hatching to give form to the petals; it never occurred to me that nature could come up with such a mathematical design. But I'm delighted that such an unlikely flower does really exist!
ReplyDeleteI know exactly how you feel, they are a true delight. When the sunlight catches their petals they make me think of Tiffany lamps.
DeleteI bought a postcard of the Mackintosh fritillaries from Kelvingrove gallery when I was at college, long before I got properly interested in gardening; I thought it was an imagined stylised flower he had done as an illustration. On a visit to a local garden centre near to my first house, I saw the real thing growing in pots, which was when I found out they were indeed real. I bought all five pots and planted them in my wee garden. They remain probably my favourite flower and I've grown them in every garden I've had. Near to where I lived in Dorset, Holwell church had the most beautiful display of them every spring, including patches of the white ones. It was featured on a t.v. programme with David Bellamy. I ended up with a good collection of various fritillaries via that initial postcard :)
ReplyDeleteI too thought like you, but I did know that although rare, they existed. I was determined to see them growing in wild and then hoped that one day I might be able to grow them in my garden.
DeleteSuch lovely flowers Rosemary - sadly we don't see them around here. Your mention of William Morris designs - wallpapers and fabrics etc. - make me want to find perhaps a yard or so for a pretty pillow! So expensive these days to buy designer items - guess I'll enjoy the pillow/cushions I have. . . . . which are too many anyway, haha!
ReplyDeleteMary x
They are my favourite UK wildflower Mary - I am always please to see them each every Spring.
DeleteThere are so many pretty William Morris designs, but as you mention they are very expensive.
It is lovely to see, and I hope all is well with you both.
What a gorgeous wildflower!
ReplyDeleteI really love the fact that something so unique can grow out of a simple tiny bulb.
DeleteFirst time I have seen one of these…but guess they not likely to grow in Texas!
ReplyDeleteThey are very much a British flower I believe.
DeleteSuch a beautiful wildflower to have in your own garden, Rosemary. I have seen it here only rarely, and I can't remember where that was. I'm sure a British immigrant brought it to Canada and enjoyed seeing it in her garden.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realise that it would grow in Canada Lorrie, but then again, so many of the flowers that you share with us are the same flowers that I share too. My saddest failures have been Trilliums and Meconopsis - the blue Himalayan poppy.
DeleteDare I confess that this plant is totally unfamiliar to me, Rosemary? When I think of fritillaries, butterflies come to mind. It is an incredibly beautiful flower, however, and you speak so eloquently of its effect on you. I have no doubt that I would be equally moved and given the chance I would go out of my way to see it. It does have a sort of mathematical precision to it, but in a magical fashion, and not rectilinear or confining in any way. Thank you very much for introducing me to this marvel of nature.
ReplyDeleteI am delighted that you enjoyed meeting these unique little flowers David. Once seen never forgotten, they really are a very special gift from Mother Nature.
DeleteThey are such a delightful flower. I think you have posted about them before. I see that the seeds are available in New Zealand but don't think they would do well up here as it gets too dry.
ReplyDeleteI am always surprise that they flourish so well in our garden. We have the opposite conditions to the meadows besides the R.Thames which is their natural habitat. We live very high up on oolitic limestone. When it rains it drains away immediately - our ground never gets really soaking wet.
DeleteBeautiful.
ReplyDeleteThey are a joy to behold.
DeleteFunnily enough the only place in Scotland I've ever seen them growing is in the University of Glasgow's wild flower border meadow, perhaps sown there as a recent tribute to C.R. M's painting as I've never seen them growing wild anywhere else. I only noticed them about six years ago after I spotted them in close up on your blog. You might see some in the 5th photo down on my Wonderland post as that's the very G.U. meadow in question.
ReplyDeleteI am pleased to know that the University of Glasgow are growing these Snakeshead Fritillaries as a homage to C.R.M. He did the painting of the fritillaries in 1915 when he moved to Walberswick in Suffolk following his disenchantment with the way that his three demensional work was being received. I should imagine that was where he first saw them as there are four meadows in Suffolk where they grow.
DeleteStunning crop you have there, Rosemary! And the CRM illustration captures yours perfectly.
ReplyDeleteI love CRM's painting but also love my little crop too.
DeleteArent they lovely and isn't nature amazing, something so fluid, soft and beautiful with a hard graphic design! what a contrast. I have never been able to grow these but I do admire them.
ReplyDeleteFlowers are so mercurial - sometimes they flourish for us sometimes they do not. I have had so many failures over the years, but luckily these thrive and multiply well for me.
DeleteI just love that flower...the most beautiful!
ReplyDeleteTitti
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DeleteHello Rosemary, Your photos of this year's fritillaries are amazing as always. I took a tip from you, saved the photo of the white ones, then opened it in a Photoshop-like program. I fiddled with the brightness and contrast, and the checked pattern appeared like magic! However, after learning from you that they like to grow in the Thames floodplain, I am not sure that I will ever see one in person. I would be too busy looking for old junk, pirate treasure, etc. washed up by the Thames.
ReplyDelete--Jim
Hello Jim - I have just tried doing that myself and interestingly it worked for me too.
DeleteThe curious thing about these litte flowers is that their special habitat is growing in meadows which are gently flooded during the winter months, and have never been ploughed. The meadows have cattle grazing following the flowering and then it is scythed during Aug/Sept. My flowers, however, survive really well in an alien environment. We live high up on oothiltic ground which never ever gets very wet, so it always remains a bit of a mystery to me that they do so well on our hilltop.
Dear Rosemary,
ReplyDeleteJust like Helleborous...one has to crawl along the ground for them to display their secret. I have tried to grow tham but could not make them come back. Not only are you a fine photographer but you also excell in growing the most beautiful flowers.
Dear Gina - thank you for your generous comment which has give me a real boost, because these days I feel as if both my posts and my photos are rapidly deteriorating.
DeleteOh no Rosemary, not so.
DeleteUnfortunately I think that it is an age thing Gina.
DeleteSurely very welcome the multiplying of this gorgeous flower .
ReplyDeleteVery happy that they thrive in our garden and multiply too Jane.
DeleteDear Rosemary - Time flies! It seems only like yesterday when I saw these flowers on this blog. They are so beautiful, as always, and how nice they increase year by year. Almost all the flowers bloom earlier than usual, too, though my winter was much colder than usual.
ReplyDeleteYoko
Dear Yoko - the seasons are certainly acting strangely. Winter here was extraordinarily mild and spring began very early. However, I am not keen on the winter months so I was happy that it past by quickly.
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