Growing Fritillary Flowers: Planting Fritillaria Michailovskyi Bulbs

Growing fritillary flowers is a fun way to add a unique bulb to beds, rock gardens, and borders. Michael’s fritillary plant (Fritillaria michailovskyi) has pretty little flowers that are unusual and beautiful. Like many other bulbs, they are planted in fall and require soil that drains well to avoid rot.

What is Fritillaria Michailovskyi Plant?

Known as Michael’s flower, this plant is a fall bulb that blooms in the spring. It is a perennial belonging to the same family as lilies and native to Turkey. Each plant grows to about 8 or 10 inches (20-25 cm.) in height and 5 to 7 inches (13-18 cm.) across.

The foliage of Michael’s flower fritillary is long and narrow, grass like, and a gray green color. The flowers, though, are truly unique. Small, bell-shaped blooms hang down and are purplish brown with yellow edges along the petals.

Planting Fritillaria Michailovskyi Bulbs

Like many other bulbs, fritillary needs soil that drains very well to prevent rot. Plant these bulbs in the fall to a depth of about 4 inches (10 cm.). Space them about 6 inches (15 cm.) from each other.

Add some sand or gravel to the holes before you put the bulbs in to provide extra drainage. Apply mulch over the top for winter protection.

In addition to well-drained soil, your fritillary plants will need full sun or light shade and some organic matter in the soil. As the flower begins to thrive, expect it to naturalize. You can also propagate this plant by the offsets that grow around the bulb over time.

Fritillary looks nice in natural clumps but also within borders and flower beds or even mixed in with other bulbs. You can even grow this flower in containers as long as they drain well.

The most common issue that gardeners encounter with this plant is bulb rot from too much water. This is why drainage is so important. Other potential issues to watch out for include leaf spot and rust, mosaic virus, and damage from snails and slugs.