To break dormancy, soak corms in tepid water for 8-12 hours before planting 2-3" deep. Wild in southeastern Europe and Turkey, in scrub meadows and rocky crevices.
3–6" tall. Early Spring blooms, Z5-9, 5cm/up bulbs.
The Royal General Bulbgrowers Association in Holland (Koninklijke Algemeene Vereeniging voor Bloembollencultuur, or KAVB) puts this large group of diverse flowers into a boring catch-all category: Miscellaneous Bulbs. The expensive catalogs call them specialty or accent bulbs; some call them minor or dwarf bulbs (even though some of the fritillaries are huge!); Louise Beebe Wilder covered most of them in her 1936 classic Adventures with Hardy Bulbs. Whatever you call them, most are uncommonly sweet, delicate, colorful, and completely welcome in spring.