The crown imperial (Fritillaria imperialis) looks impressive as a single specimen, but the flower bed is only really colorfully colored by a group of several plants. You can not only purchase the plant material required for this from specialist retailers, but also obtain it through your own propagation efforts.

Make many out of one: The Kaiserkrone is propagated by seeds or bulbs

The propagation of the crown imperial: bulbs or seeds

As a rule, imperial crowns are planted in the garden using bulbs, which are available in many different subspecies from specialist retailers, as these lead to an initial, successful flowering period faster than seeds. If the imperial crowns have successfully settled in one location, then the easy-care and hardy plants spread by self-seeding without much effort. If you want to sow the imperial crown yourself, you must not cut off the withered inflorescences before the seeds are ripe.

Growing the seeds in the pot

If you want to grow imperial crowns from seeds in a pot or want to breed certain varieties separately, you can harvest the seeds by hand and sow them in a controlled manner. However, depending on the variety, it sometimes takes between three and six years when growing imperial crowns from seeds until the first inflorescences form. When cultivating from seeds, the following must be observed:

  • stratify the seeds or expose them to a cold spell
  • to keep the seed soil sufficiently moist during the germination phase
  • always use the seeds as fresh as possible

Multiply the Kaiserkrone by transplanting the bulbs

Even below the surface of the earth, the crown imperial ensures a numerical increase over the years by forming so-called breeding or daughter bulbs around the main bulbs. You can carefully dig them out during the main planting season from July to September and replant them in a new location about 20 to 30 centimeters deep. If there are several specimens in the garden, you should only use this propagation method alternately every year, as the transplanted specimens sometimes do not bloom again directly in the following year.

tips and tricks

Since most subspecies of the Crown Imperial are relatively self-sterile, you should plant different species next to each other if you intend to propagate from the seeds formed.

Category:

Vegetable garden