Fritillaria meleagris

I was very surprised to see the snake's head fritillaries in flower  - the end of March beginning of April feels too soon.  

I shall now have to be extra vigilant, their arrival marks the return of the naughty red lily beetle, the bane of any lily growers life.

And then I came to a field where the springing grass

Was dulled by the hanging cups of fritillaries,

Sullen and foreign-looking, the snaky flower,

Scarfed in dull purple, like Egyptian girls

camping among the furze...

Vita Sackville-West (1892 - 1962)

When light slants before the sunset, this is

The proper time to watch fritillaries.

They entered creeping; you go on your knees,

The flowers level with your eyes,

And catch the dapple of sunlight through the petals...

Anne Ridler (1912 - 2001)

Fritillaria meleagris

I always look forward to the arrival of the delightful Snakeshead fritillaries in our garden where they can now be seen in great abundance. Knowing how rarely they are seen in the wild these days makes me feel particularly protective of this precious lily. Checking on them today revealled four naughty red lily beetles who had already sought them out, but they were promptly vanquished. In a matter of days four could become many and then they would all start descending on my newly emerging summer lilies. I had thought that the cold winter might have killed the beetle's lavae, but I was mistaken.

The pretty Erythroniums have also arrived on the scene in yellow, white, and pink, they too are members of the lily family - this one is called pagoda, but luckily they are not preyed on by the lily beetle

Judging by the blossom I am anticipating making delicious plum jam, plum pies, and plum crumble during the fruiting season.

Spring in the Garden

 This year the flowers seem taller, brighter, and more full blown than previous years

especially the Fritillaria meleagris - snakeshead fritillary 

May be it was the milder winter minus snow or hard frosts

I love my Fritillaries and always look forward to their Spring arrival

Charles Rennie Mackintosh admired them too 
It was when he spent a year living in Walberswick, Suffolk that he first saw them growing and where he did his painting

Snakeshead fritallaries are classic hay meadow flowers which have suffered as a result of modern agricultural methods and no longer survive in the quantities that they did. However, there is a meadow close to us that is occupied by 80% of the wild fritillaries in this country, a meadow which has always been treated traditionally. The meadow is in C9th Saxon town Cricklade lying beside the infant river Thames. Although my fritillaries are nearly over, the meadow ones tend to flower much later and will be coming into bloom in a couple of weeks until the end of the month. 
If you are travelling in southern Oxfordshire and would like to see them you can find more information here.

Fritillaria meleagris

I was taken by surprise as I wandered around the garden and discovered that the snake's head fritillaries were already in flower - it had slipped my mind that their arrival was imminent.

It was a relief to see their pretty faces once more - I had been under the impression that our visiting female deer was feasting on them. Having now looked closely at the area where they grow and where she feeds, I see that the naughty furry lady has been dinning out on our dormant cyclamen plants, but hopefully they have enough time to recover before their autumn flowering.

There are many clumps yet to open, but here you can clearly see where their common name 'snakes head' is derived from. I shall have to watch out for the Red Lily Beetle - she is rather partial to them too

You were designed to tease -
art deco inspiration

with uncanny stylised
chequer boards
magenta pixel dashes

 
a playful coyness
toying with our notions
of botanical convention
 Stephanie Goodacre