Planting bee-friendly snakeshead fritillaries

Selling plants combined with the chance to meet people is always great fun. If you've bought one of 'our' snakeshead fritillaries recently, here's what you need to know. If you've missed out, try and make the Long Ashton Village Market on 2nd April where we'll have a stall with lots more home-grown plants that are great for birds, bees and butterflies (or all three!).

Growing advice

Snakeshead Fritillaries (Fritillaria meleagris)

Grow in sun or part shade where the soil is either fairly wet or damp. They like clay soil (great for Long Ashton) and are pretty robust. Once happy, they’ll soon spread out to give you a fabulous display where every flower shows subtle differences to its neighbour.

About Snakeshead Fritillaries

Plantlife describes these dark purple (or sometimes white) flowers are as ‘serpentine and glamorous’. Snakeshead fritillaries used to thrive in traditional hay meadows that often flooded in winter months. Sadly, modern agricultural practices have led to a sharp decline but, if you’re lucky, try to visit a meadow that still has room for thousands of blooms nodding in the breeze and you’ll never forget it.

Unlike some spring flowering bulbs, bees love these luminous flowers so, for both beauty & biodiversity, they’re pretty essential for any garden. Try naturalising them in grass and you’ll be wowed by their splendour.