Crown imperial
Fritillaria imperialis · Liliaceae
A ring of large, hanging bells in orange, yellow or red, crowned with a tuft of leaves, on a stout stem in mid-spring. The whole plant smells of fox.
- Size
- 3½ ft tall, 12 in wide
- Zones
- 5 to 8
- Light
- Full sun
- Flowers
- Late April to early May
- Pets
- Toxic (mild)
- Job in a bed
- Accent
A bed built around crown imperial
The planner designed this bed around crown imperial when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) English border in zone 6, full sun. It chose the other plants from the 966 that suit those conditions, and says below why crown imperial stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Moor grass 'Greenlee' × 11, tan
- 2 October daphne × 9, pink
- 3 False sunflower 'Summer Nights' × 3, yellow
- 4 Dwarf English boxwood × 1, dark green leaves
- 5 Showy stonecrop 'Brilliant' × 3, pink
- 6 Crown imperial × 3, orange
- 7 Blue allium × 12, blue
Why this plant
- The only bells. The others are spires, dense clusters, daisies and others. Shape reads at a distance, where colours blur.
- The only orange.
Why here
- Anchors a back corner. At 3½ ft it is among the tallest plants here, and the tallest close the ends of the bed, where they stand in front of nothing.
- A step in the back row. Next to showy stonecrop 'Brilliant' (18 in): no two neighbours there are the same height, so the back steps up and down like a skyline.
- 3 plants in one clump. A single spire is too slight to hold a place alone, so here the accent is a clump.
Why now
- In flower for three weeks. From late April to early May.
- Opens the season. In all that time nothing else on the plan is in flower.
- Leaves gone by midsummer. They die back and leave bare ground. A perennial that comes up late stands beside it, and grows over the gap.
Planned as an English border: 5 of the 5 groups (100%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. The flowering year starts with crown imperial in late April and ends with October daphne in late October. The front edge is finished with October daphne and moor grass 'Greenlee'.
The planner's own design check: 14 Excellent, 3 Good. It flags one thing to watch: Nothing on this plan is highly poisonous or an aggressive spreader.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where crown imperial goes in a border
At 3½ ft it belongs at the back of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is moderately tall (3 to 4 ft).
Its job: accent. An upright plant used singly, like a punctuation mark, and repeated at intervals to give the bed rhythm.
The most imposing spring bulb, grown in gardens for four hundred years. Plant the bulb on its side in rich, very well-drained soil, and keep it away from seats and doors because of the smell.
- A dramatic spring centrepiece
- Formal spring bedding
- Deterring rodents
What to plant with crown imperial
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Daffodil: in flower together for three weeks, from late April; low enough (16 in) to stand in front of it.
- Tulip: purple against yellow, opposite each other on the colour wheel, if you choose those colours, in flower together for three weeks; low enough (18 in) to stand in front of it.
- Peony: takes over when it finishes, flowering from late May; grows up in time to hide its dying leaves.
Questions about crown imperial
Does crown imperial need sun or shade?
Crown imperial grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day).
It wants ordinary well-drained soil, rich in organic matter, and a good soak in dry spells. Once settled in, it stands drought.
What zones does crown imperial grow in?
USDA zones 5 to 8. It is hardy to zone 5, which means it survives winter nights down to about −10 °F (−23 °C).
Above zone 8 it struggles: the zones measure winter cold, but a plant's top zone usually means the summers are too hot or the winters too mild for it to rest.
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does crown imperial flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers late April to early May. As a spring flower it moves about a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer, later where it is colder.
| Zone 5 | Late April to early May |
|---|---|
| Zone 6 | Mid April to early May |
| Zone 7 | Mid April to late April |
| Zone 8 | Early April to mid April |
Worked out from Hopkins' bioclimatic law: spring arrives about four days later for each degree of latitude north, and one zone is roughly two degrees. A warm spring or a cold one moves any garden two weeks either way.
How far apart should crown imperial be planted?
10 in (25 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 12 in (30 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 3½ ft (100 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many crown imperial plants do I need?
At 10 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 17 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 13 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 55 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as one at a time, repeated along the bed at intervals; a slender one reads better as a clump of three.
In the bed above, the planner used three in one group.
Is crown imperial poisonous to dogs and cats?
Yes: mild toxicity to people, dogs, cats and horses. The bulbs are poisonous if eaten raw.
Rated from NC State Extension. Where references disagree, the more cautious rating is used.
Do deer eat crown imperial?
Mostly not. NC State lists it as resistant to deer. No plant is proof against a hungry deer in a hard winter, but this one is low on the menu.
What can I plant to hide crown imperial's leaves after it flowers?
A bulb's leaves have to be left to yellow for about six weeks after flowering, to feed next year's flowers. Plant it among perennials that come up late and spread wide, and they grow over the leaves as they fade:
- Peony: 3 ft tall and 3 ft wide, a recorded partner, in flower late May to late June.
- Blue false indigo: 4 ft tall and 4 ft wide, in flower late May to mid June.
- Daylily: 2½ ft tall and 24 in wide, in flower late June to early August.
What does crown imperial look like in winter?
Crown imperial is underground: it dies back after flowering and waits as a bulb until spring. Mark where it is, so a fork does not find it first.
More Fritillaria
- Checkered lily Fritillaria meleagris
- Persian fritillary Fritillaria persica
In these guides
Every fact on record
- Type
- Bulb
- Size
- 3½ ft (100 cm) tall, 12 in (30 cm) wide
- Plant
- 10 in (25 cm) apart
- Height class
- Moderately tall (3 to 4 ft)
- Place in the bed
- Back
- Flowers
- Late April to early May; hanging bells; orange, yellow, red
- Leaves
- Medium texture, summer-dormant; green
- Shape
- Upright, clumping
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 5 to 8
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil
- Rich, well-drained
- Water
- Moderate
- Feeding
- Light, in spring
- Family
- Liliaceae
- Comes from
- Western Asia, Southern Turkey and Iran to the Western Himalaya
- Stands up to
- Deer, drought, black walnut
Checked against NC State Extension. Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.