Everyone knows that sweet little purple lapwing, which flowers profusely in the spring. But besides that famous lapwing, the Fritillaria Meleagris, there are many more beautiful varieties of Fritillaria species on the market. G.I.A. Flowers from de Goorn is a special bulb flower nursery, which is active in Fritillaria`s from mid-January to mid-May. Tim and Mariska told us all about the Fritillaria Ivory Bells, Magic Bells and the Persica.

G.I.A. Flowers

After cultivating various lilies and summer flowers, G.I.A. Flowers started breeding the Fritillaria Meleagris in the mid 90's. At the time, about 10,000 stems of this type were grown per year. Since 2005, G.I.A. Flowers has specialized in the Fritillaria and since then company has grown considerably. They now grow many different Fritillaria varieties, together no less than 1,200,000 stems per year!

In the spotlights

Spring is approaching and Easter will be in early April this year. Tim and Mariska have selected a number of beautiful types of Fritillaria for our spotlights that fit very well at this time of year. The Fritillaria "Persica", "Ivory Bells" and Fritillaria "Magic Bells" are Persian Imperial crowns from Iran.

The "Persica" is the purple variant and usually available in large quantities. She has a very beautiful deep purple color; a very nice addition to the modern vintage bridal bouquets and arrangements.

The name "Ivory Bells" can be explained by the green flowers that have a beautiful silver shine just like the leaves. Due to its fresh green color, it actually fits into any arrangement and gives a wonderful spring feeling.

The "Magic Bells" has a bit of both. It has the soft green color, combined with the deep purple color; a real magical appearance.

Both the "Ivory Bells" and the "Magic Bells" are mutants of the "Persica". All three varieties are beautiful spring products that are very special in their own right. You can see that the moment you put the flowers in a vase; they always take on their own graceful shape. This also makes them less suitable for a Biedermeier bouquet, but all the more beautiful in an elegant spring bouquet. This is what makes the product so special for the company: "A top natural product, which finds its own way in a vase".

All the different activities within the company are still manual work: planting, harvesting and growing in the greenhouse.

Increase

To propagate the bulbs, the bulb is cut in a certain way. The moment a bulb is damaged it wants to survive, just like in nature. If done correctly, you will notice that small bulbs form in the cut. The process of cutting and propagating a bulb takes a year. After that it will take another 3 to 4 years until the bulbs are strong enough to give a beautiful flower. In addition, many types of bulbs are also very sensitive to diseases. By propagating from seed you often get flowers with different shapes, colors and lengths.

The bulbs of the Fritillaria can be used as a cut flower or garden plant. As a garden plant, the product flowers in April / May, after which very decorative seed pods often form from the flower.

Uniform parties

Due to the slow propagation and the extremely fragile bulbs, it took a long time for G.I.A. Flowers to produce this exclusive product in normal quantities. Different varieties have been created by natural crossings. The big challenge is to create uniformity in the batches, with equal quality for all flowers. Through selection, there are now a number of lines and types that are uniform for the Ivory and Magical Bells. G.I.A. Flowers is also working hard to make the Persica's uniform, but that takes a lot of time and patience. They currently have many different flowering forms, so they are in the process of selecting.

Care

Use a clean vase. Fill it with cold water and cut flower food, this will promote the flowering and shelf life of the flower. Cut the Fritillaria diagonally and remove the bottom leaf before placing the flowers on the water.

Avoid draft and direct sunlight. Refill the vase regularly with clean water. Follow these instructions and you will be able to enjoy this fantastic spring flower for a long time.

FloraPodium,  02 April 2020