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Liliaceae FAMILY

Fritillaria sewerzowii

Fritillaria sewerzowii

Edibility
2/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitBulb
Growth—

Fritillaria sewerzowiiis a plant of the temperate zone, growing in areas with cold winters and warm, dry summers. The plants are usually covered with snow in winter, with much of the moisture required for growth coming from the melt water. This is a difficult plant to grow unless similar conditions to its natural habitat can be provided. It grows well in a pot, and could also be tried in a raaised bed which was given protection from summer rain. Prefers a well-drained loam that is kept dry in the summer[1, 2]. The soil must be kept quite firm[1]. Established plants are drought tolerant[3]. This species is best grown in a bulb frame, the light being left off (except in severe weather) whilst growth is in progress but then put on in the summer when growth dies down to ensure that the ground is baked[1]. Do not disturb the plants and only hand weed them[1].

Propagation

Seed - best sown as soon as ripe in a well-drained, sandy or gritty soil in a cold frame, it should germinate in the spring[1]. Protect from frost[4]. Stored seed should be sown as soon as possible and can take a year or more to germinate[4]. Sow the seed quite thinly to avoid the need to prick out the seedlings. Once they have germinated, give them an occasional liquid feed to ensure that they do not suffer mineral deficiency. Once they die down at the end of their second growing season, divide up the small bulbs, planting 2 - 3 to an 8cm deep pot. Grow them on for at least another year in light shade in the greenhouse before planting them out whilst dormant. Division of offsets in August[1]. The larger bulbs can be planted out direct into their permanent positions, but it is best to pot up the smaller bulbs and grow them on in a cold frame for a year before planting them out in the autumn. Bulb scales[5]. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Fritillaria+sewerzowii>

Pollinators

Insects

References

  1. [1]RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 — F. Chittendon. · Oxford University Press · 1951 · ISBN - ↩︎Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaced in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [ 200 ]).
  2. [2]Bulbs — Phillips. R. and Rix. M. · Pan Books · 1989 · ISBN 0-330-30253-1 ↩︎Superbly illustrated, it gives brief details on cultivation and native habitat.
  3. [3]The Dry Garden. — Chatto. B. · Dent · 1982 · ISBN 0460045512 ↩︎A good list of drought resistant plants with details on how to grow them.
  4. [4]Growing from Seed. Volume 2. — Rice. G. (Editor) · Thompson and Morgan. · 1988 · ISBN - ↩︎Very readable magazine with lots of information on propagation. An interesting article on Ensete ventricosum.
  5. [5]Lilies and Related Plants. — RHS Lily Group. ↩︎Lots of interesting snippets about plants in the family Liliaceae (in the old, broad sense)
  6. [6]Flora of the USSR. — Komarov. V. L. · Israel Program for Scientific Translation · 1968 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org · ISBN - ↩︎An immense (25 or more large volumes) and not yet completed translation of the Russian flora. Full of information on plant uses and habitats but heavy going for casual readers. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
  7. [7]Encyclopaedia Britannica. 15th edition. — ? ↩︎It contains a few things of interest to the plant project.