Fritillary

Day 174: Last fall, I cleaned out the huge flower pot which holds the Fritillary Lilies and Snowflakes, replanting the bulbs in fresh soil and closer to the surface. This really needs to be done every few years, but I have been horribly remiss, with fewer blooms emerging than might have if I had been more diligent. This year, I'm reaping rewards for my small labour. The Fritillaries began opening a few days ago during the warm weather, and there are numerous buds yet to come. Fritillaria meleagris may be known to you as "Chocolate Lily" or "Checkered Lily," and is a close cousin to our native Fritillaria affinis, also called by both common names. The native plant has a less-than-pleasant scent which I have not noticed in the garden variety. A family of butterflies also goes by the name of Fritillary and is also checkered in appearance, a bit of trivia which sent me straight to the dictionary to find out the origin of the word. "Fritillus" in Latin refers to a dice-cup (checkered, one would presume) or a checkerboard; to be strictly accurate, mind you, it does not refer to a chessboard, because chess was unknown to the Romans.