Purple King

This is Erythronium dens canis variety Purple King. The English name is Dog's Tooth Violet. You have to dig it up to understand why it has that name.

Erythroniums are among my favourite alpine plants and I have several different varieties in my little alpine house. They are reliable and easy to grow. Some others grow outside in the rockery.

For anyone interested an alpine house is a greenhouse with no heat and lots of louvre windows which stay open all winter. If a severe frost is forecast there is a fleece which pulls over the plants. The crucial thing is that when it is cold they need protection from the wet. All the pots sit in a bed of sand.

For the photograph I brought the plant into the house and used a tripod and a delay timer.