Potted Fritillaria meleagris in our living room this week.
The plants are 13″ to 15″ tall.
I love the checkered pattern on the blooms.
Right now, almost all the supermarkets and florists here are selling small plastic pots of three or four blooming or almost-blooming spring bulbs (about €3.30 each — cheaper than a lot of cut flowers).
I replanted these into two purple ceramic pots that I had from a previous plant purchase. Then, to catch the excess water, I also put them down in blue pottery teacups from Rwanda’s Gatagara Cooperative.
I covered the soil with seashell chips.
The yellow-blue sake pitcher and cups in the photos above were made by American ceramics artist Hayne Bayless. They were purchased years ago at the Smithsonian Craft Show — which will be held this year from April 21 to 24 at the National Building Museum* in Washington, D.C. If you plan to be in the D.C. area that week, you can buy advance (discounted) tickets here.
To see what other gardeners have put in a vase today, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.
*The Oehme/van Sweden exhibit will still be there.
enclos*ure 
Hi Cindy, your Fritillaries are gorgeous. Never seen them offered in grocery stores around here but would love to. Glad you described the sake set. It immediately caught my eye. All very lovely. (May I suggest you add a comment on Cathy’s In A Vase On Monday Post and put a link back to your post so others can find you and see these lovely flowers too.)
Hi, Thanks. I’ve never seen potted Fritillaries for purchase in the U.S., but they are so nice to have since I love them but never get around to planting them in the ground in September.
I just linked to Cathy’s blog. When I posted this morning (German time), she had not yet posted. Then I’ve been out running errands.
I absolutely love this checkered flower, but have never seen them growing indoors….what a treat!
They are nice and will probably last until Wednesday — a week and a half.
Oh! Wow Cindy I’ve never thought of forcing Fritillaries; they are so tall too. Can you explain how you did it please? Did the bulbs need chilling like my tulips?
I wish I could take full credit, but I bought the bulbs in little plastic pots, already forced and almost ready to bloom. I just re-potted them.
I was surprised how tall they are. Before I bought them, I had only seen them in pictures.
Don’t they look lovely potted? Definitely worth a try although they can be a bit fussy outside here so I am not sure what conditions you would grow them in in pots. Thanks for sharing the idea
I just found these instructions for forcing them on the blog PlantsWise: http://plantswise.com/?p=211
Thanks Cindy – that was really interesting and I will make a note of that alongside my bulb catalogue for next year
Like many other commenters, I’ve never thought of forcing these indoors. But I will now; they’re beautiful!
When you have some in the house, you can really examine the pattern on the blooms (without lying on the cold, damp ground).