Fritillaria 'Lentune Talbot'

F.  (aurea x pinardii) x 'Lentune Slate'

The result of pollinating Fritillaria (aurea x pinardii) with Fritillaria 'Lentune Slate'. The seed was sown in September 2013 and this clone was singled out in 2021. 

The sowing resulted in many and varied clones, all of which look plausible as progeny of the intended parents - bearing in mind that wasps can easily intervene in the pollination process to spoil my intentions! This particular clone flowers later than all its siblings (hence its name) and is also one of the shortest. As such it has considerable merit should it endure!

F. 'Lentune Talbot' shares several features with its sister seedling 'Lentune Laggard' but 'Laggard' always flowers at least two weeks later than 'Talbot'. The flowers of 'Laggard' are slightly more yellow compared with 'Talbot'. They are both of similar stature (quite tall) and their strong stems will often carry three flowers.  

F. 'Lentune Talbot' is also a sister seedling of F. 'Lentune Lantern', F. 'Lentune Lustre' and F. 'Lentune Lovat' 

Seed parent(F. aurea x pinardii)

Sourced from Kath Dryden around the turn of the millennium. Kath's catalogue provided no information about provenance. The literature contains various references to this hybrid (both natural and man-made).

In conclusion: I think my plant is Rix1602 but cannot be certain.

Pollen parent(F. 'Lentune Slate')

The true parentage of this plant is uncertain. I grew it from seed and planted the entire potful, as a clump, into an outside trough. After a few years it was the sole survivor in that part of the trough and the only nearby label suggested Fritillaria crassifolia kurdica. Having dug it out and potted it for the showbench I initially exhibited it as Fritillaria crassifolia kurdica hybrid but was not entirely convinced of any F. crassifolia kurdica influence. Apart from glaring morphological differences, this plant is a prolific 'rice maker' whilst (in my experience at least) Fritillaria crassifolia produces very little (if any) rice. I currently favour the notion that F. crassifolia kurdica may indeed be the seed parent and that Fritillaria whittallii may be the pollen parent. Both the flowers and the leaves of 'Lentune Slate' are intermediate between these two putative parents and in addition, F. whittallii is a 'rice maker' and so could have contributed this attribute to its offspring.

Fritillaria 'Lentune Slate' has won lots of red stickers at AGS shows during the last ten years (under a variety of labels until I finally gave it a cultivar name) and more recently a few trophies. It was given an 'Award of Merit' by the RHS Joint Rock Garden Plant Committee in March 2022.

The 'Slate' element in the name is reference to the slate coloured 'bloom' on the flowers.