Fritillaria

Today's the day ....................... to succeed at last

We've been trying for three years to get these gorgeous flowers to grow in this garden - and at last, we've managed it.

We planted dozens the first year we were here - but obviously they didn't like the situation, something ate the bulbs in the ground - or maybe the bulbs were dodgy?  Whatever it was, they disappeared without trace.  Much the same happened last year and so we chose a completely different spot to try - and it obviously worked because this year, we have loads of them.

They look so exotic with their strange chequered petals. Apparently this is what their name is derived from - the latin word for a dice-box (fritillus). They look almost unreal - as if the pattern had been painted on. Perhaps this is why they were also one of the favourites of the artist and architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh ..................