I keep hearing the pheasant on the field next to us, I start getting worried when I hear him in the garden, I am really worried when I hear him in the woodland. So far I have chased him 3 times out of the woodland, what a noise he makes then. Why all this bother some of you may be thinking? Last year just as all my snakeshead fritillaries or Fritillaria meleagris, were coming into flower, he decided they would make a very tasty breakfast and started eating them, or just taking a bite out of a few of them. However, this year, so far, the fritillaries seem to have escaped damage and are now opening and looking as they should, thank goodness!
So, there we are, this year lots and lots of lovely flowers on the Fritillaria meleagris, each year we are getting more and more flowers (when the pheasant leaves them alone) as I sprinkle the seed further along this area each year. Apparently it takes four or five years for the seedlings to get large enough to flower, so I am now seeing the results from quite a few years ago. Thanks to the pheasant staying away from my flowers, I am now able to enjoy my morning wander without finding devastation in the woodland!
They are lovely Pauline, absolutely gorgeous. You have so many. You are right pheasants love them. At least they love to bite their heads off. I saw my first lily beetle of the season the other day, they love frits too.
I think I’m going to have to refollow you, your posts aren’t coming into my reader. I came to look because I read your comment on someone else’s blog saying you were boing to write about your fritillaries. Glad I did!
Thanks Chloris, I just bought a few bulbs to start with, the rest have all come from seed scattered. I go on lily beetle patrol each morning now, some years I don’t find any, others there are quite a few to be dispatched!
Sorry you haven’t been receiving my posts, you are the second one to say that, I will look into it to see if the problem is at my end, thanks for letting me know.
Your Fritillaria meleagris are beautiful and as Chloris said, there is quite a lot of them. We do not have pheasants here but before long, for several weeks, we will be hearing the drumming of the male grouse. They are shy and do not come to the garden. At this time of the year I think they eat mostly tree buds.
Our pheasant Alain, struts around the garden as if he owns it, thank goodness he doesn’t bring his 12 females with him! The pheasants are well known for eating the fritillary flower buds, they can ruin a patch of them in no time at all, so we try to keep him out of the woodland where my flowers are.
These are beautiful Pauline. Hope you can keep Mr. Pheasant diverted.
I think I’m relying on his ladies to distract him Susie! He seems to be staying more on the fields these days thankfully.
Such a beautiful flower and they look so much at home in your woodland. With the daffodils too, the spot looks like an Easter basket–especially joyful.
I’m having the same problem as Chloris, I keep subscribing but it doesn’t seem to stick. I check on you, tough, when see your reply on another blog. One of the benefits of a circle of friends…
That is a lovely description Marian, thank you. I think they are very beautiful flowers, such useful bulbs for a moist spot, there aren’t many bulbs that want moisture to survive.
I will get in touch with my son tomorrow to try and sort my problems out, thank you for keeping in touch via other blogs.
Absolutely stunning!
I hope you do not speak too soon though..
Jessica, I think we might escape this year, as he seems to be spending all his time in the fields next door with all his ladies. Maybe he got fed up with a mad woman chasing him!
Fritillaria meleagris have always been one of my favourite plants from the first time I ever saw them at Sissinghurst. I’ve never lived anywhere that they would grow so I suppose that makes me love them all the more!
Christina, this is the first garden where I can grow them, where we lived before was almost pure sand! Strange isn’t it how we always want to grow plants that aren’t suitable for our gardens. I could have grown all your lovely Mediterranean plants in my last garden, but didn’t know enough about gardening then and tried all the wrong plants!
Tempus fugit Pauline! Can’t believe that a year has elapsed since your beautiful fritillaries were providing sustenance for the pesky pheasant. Hope that his beak does not get anywhere near them this year as they are so exquisite.
As you say Anna, time flies, yes, a whole year since my fritillaries were all chewed! Hopefully he is getting the message, as soon as he makes a noise, I’m out in the garden and he flies away protesting!
This is one of my favourite flowers. So pretty and unusual. I have some in my woodland border, and cherish them.
Yes Gitte, I agree, they certainly are beautiful flowers, I’m sure they must look very pretty in your woodland border.
Didn’t know that pheasants have such a sense for true beauty. What a fantastic display, Pauline – I’m still struggling a little to establish them in our orchard. I know they like damp soil and maybe ours is too dry in summer but I just love them and will keep trying.
I’m afraid they do Annette, I think when they are still at the bud stage, they make a nice tasty morsel! I’ve been reading lately that once established they don’t necessarily need moist soil, but the problem is getting them established in the first place. The left hand end of the woodland is always damp in the winter, last summer it must have been dry with the high temperatures we had and all the huge tree roots that are in the same area, but they don’t seem to have suffered at all. I really hope you succeed with them, because once they take off, they just get better and better each year with more seed being sprinkled.
Hi Pauline,
How beautiful! I don’t know anything about fritillaries but need to…..They are amazing…..I haven’t seen a pheasant here for years but, the deer make up for it! Your spring is ahead of ours and it’s fun to see your plants in bloom. Happy Gardening, Sally
Hi Sally, nice to hear from you.
Fritillaries are lovely flowers at this time of year, they tend to like dampish soil which we have at the end of our little bit of woodland, they seem very happy there. I think deer are worse than pheasants, don’t they eat everything?! You have certainly had a long cold winter, I hope spring soon comes to your garden.
Your fritillaries are stunning Pauline! I have never grown them but hope to in the future. Are you spreading seed you buy or seed collected from your plants? I would not have thought of starting them from seed. I will keep my fingers crossed that your pheasant stays away – I had terrible trouble last year with rooks destroying all my blossom – so far they have not been interested, but there is a long way to go yet.
Thanks Julie, I’m spreading them from seed saved from my plants. I started with I think, 20 bulbs and have spread the seed for the last 15 years. They do look a bit untidy while waiting for the seedheads to appear, but I feel it is worth it. I’m now getting the benefit of seeds that were sown many years ago and it should keep on getting better year on year. We encourage wildlife into the garden, but unfortunately they don’t always know how to behave! Hope your rooks stay away from your blossom this year.
They really are fantastic – your woodland is so precious all through the spring. I’m enjoying seeing it so much! (Are there fairies in there too?) 😉
You’re very kind Cathy, I have to admit that it is my favourite part of the garden, as for fairies, well you never know, there are times when I feel I’m being watched!
I’m glad to see the Frits doing so well again and without the pheasant attacks! It’s interesting to see the color variations that you have and they really look to be enjoying the spot they’re in. I have to admit I planted a few named ones last fall hoping to get the same kind of mix here! We’ll see if a named frit amounts to anything special compared to the straight garden center mix, but I’m sure they’ll all come along nice.
The difference is amazing Frank, no chewed flowers! I just planted a few purple bulbs to start with, the rest has come by seed. When I see how few white ones have appeared, I now know why they are so much more expensive than the purple ones! Over here we can just buy the purple and white bulbs, I don’t think I have seen any named ones. Hope you will soon have lots of them to enjoy like me!
Lovely, aren’t they. I know it’s not really funny, but I do like the idea of a gourmet pheasant feasting on fritillaries 🙂 – the first of mine just came into flower the other day taking me by surprise. Last year they were rather ruined by the beetles, luckily none have been seen so far this year.
Gourmet pheasant Helle, mmm, I’m partial to a bit of gourmet pheasant! So glad you haven’t had the dreaded lily beetle this year, so far we haven’t had them yet thank goodness, but it pays to have a daily wander to check.
These fritillaries are fabulous! But I wouldn’t be very successful at chasing the pheasant away. I’ve never seen one and would be so shocked he’d probably manage to devour a few before I’d figured out what to do.
Thank you for stopping by Casa, I’m sure you would be very successful at chasing the pheasant. It wouldn’t be so bad if they just ate one or two, but they seem to like taking a bite out of each one as they pass! They are large birds, I think about the same size as your wild turkey.