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Crown Imperials

Cottage CompostCottage Compost Posts: 496
in Plants
Does anybody know when I should start seeing signs of life from my Crown Imperials?  I planted them on their sides autumn 2019, nothing yet!  The majority of my other spring bulbs have started, dogs tooth violets, tulips, the snowdrops are fully out and the aconites are almost over :/

It has been a very wet winter, hope i haven't lost them.
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  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I always think of them coming out around Easter. The spike grows almost overnight when it does start ... but that won’t be until just before it flowers. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Cottage CompostCottage Compost Posts: 496
    edited January 2020
    Thank you, Dove

    I'll be patient and wait till late March, early April.  

    Starting Easter'ish will they flower by May'ish?

    Any advice?  should i feed or do nothing until after flowering then feed them?
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited January 2020
    Late April/May flowering sounds about right ... depending on the season of course.

    I find that leaving them alone suits them well. The best ones I ever had were in the garden of a cottage we moved to where the garden had been ignored for some years ... that first spring, when the red tinged green shoots started to push up through the bittercress weeds and that lovely foxy smell drifted around the garden ... I was so happy 😀 
    I just give them a sprinkling of Fish blood and bone as the flowers died down and I picked off the seedheads ... then I left them alone and they reappeared every spring 😊 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Cottage CompostCottage Compost Posts: 496

  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Love the burnt orange ones. Not keen on the yellow but they all look very healthy. 

    Have you tried the smokey purple ones?  Fritillaria persica.


    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • Cottage CompostCottage Compost Posts: 496
    I wasn't sure i'd like the yellow and now love them, love the orange ones.  I bought Orange, yellow and red.   I got Orange and yellow but the red turned out to be persica's and i've decided i don't like them much, so much so i'm going to sell them on ebay when they have died back later in the year.
  • Loraine3Loraine3 Posts: 579
    My Crown Imperials flowered for the first time last year, I left them in the ground but there is no sign of any flowers this year, quite healthy growth but not quite as healthy looking as they should be. What have I done wrong?
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    They look fabulous, love the orange ones. Well worth the wait!
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    They need rich, fertile but well drained preferably alkaline soil.   Maybe you just need to feed the well because the fact that they have come back at all indicates something is to their liking.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • Cottage CompostCottage Compost Posts: 496
    These are the first year they have flowered.   Potted them up autumn 2019.  I understand that they may not flower the second year but then flower after that as long as they are looked after and fed.  Try feeding them now or cover with well rotted manure when they die back and feed them well next spring as soon as you see the first signs of growth.  Next years flower spikes form 8 to 12 months in advance so it could be too late this year now.

    Your supposed to plant them at least a whole one-foot deep, at least a foot, deeper is preferred.  How deep did you plant yours.  Did they dry out too much last summer?

    Keep them watered through the summer and autumn even after they have disappeared.
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