"Glenda wrote in message ...
Over the Easter Hols, I visited the RHS gardens at Harlow Carr,
Harrogate and fell in love... with fritillaria imperialis! I don't
ever recall seeing this plant before and I was really taken with its
stature and beautiful flowers - the hunt's on now to find bulbs!


Yes beautiful flowers, unfortunately they are also the favourite of Lily
Beetle which did for ours, including Lutea, despite my constant attempts at
control which works for our lilies. So if you have that pest in your area
watch out, they'll get eaten off before you know they are growing.
Oh, and they also smell of foxes, strongly! :-)

Thanks for the comments folks. I'm not quite sure what foxes smell
like but if I get some bulbs, it looks like I'll find out!! I just
hope they smell awful enough to stop the squirrels digging them up and
eating them.