Where can I buy bulbs of "Fritillaria meleagris", please?
This is an autumn sown garden bulb that flowers in Spring (very few Bulbsmen in 
Australia stock it, though it's easily available in Europe. I need to
get the bulbs from an Australian Nureryman, because we are in the
southern hemisphere.

Hi Babs16,

There are several nurseries in Australia that will send you F.
meleagris by order - though for some of them you will need to
negotiate via email or phone, as they don't all have online ordering. 
Below are the top candidates that I found.

C&M Drewitt
http://www.nurseriesonline.com.au/drewitts_bulbs/Summer_2004/GALANTHUS,FRITILLARIA,%20ORNITHOGALUM,%20IPHEON.htm
They have several Fritillaria species, including F. meleagris for $4AU
per bulb or $18.75AU for 5.
Contact info: C & M DREWITT. 
RARE and UNUSUAL BULBS
8-10 Henderson Hill Rd, Silvan. Vic 3795. 
Phone or Fax 03 9737 9827
Mobile 0419 504432. 
email: coldrew@mira.net

J.N. Hancock & Co.
http://www.daffodilbulbs.com.au/Download/Bulbs2004.pdf
This page (which Alderr also found but couldn't get info for) offers
F. meleagris for $6.95AU per bulb, $15.95AU for 3 and $19.95 for 5.
Contact info: J. N. Hancock & Co.
DAFFODILS OF DISTINCTION SINCE 1917
2 Jacksons Hill Road, Menzies Creek VIC 3159, Australia
Tel: (03) 9754 3328 Fax: (03) 9752 5877 E-mail HancocksDaffodils@pobox.com

Woodbridge Nursery
http://www.woodbridgenursery.com.au/
This company sells F. meleagris only by the bulb, for $4.80AU each. 
Order via mail using downloadable PDF order form.

New Gippsland Seeds and Bulbs
http://www.newgipps.com.au/bulb2.htm
They have F. meleagris for $8.40AU each, 3 for $24.00AU
This company allows online ordering, or by mail etc.:
http://www.newgipps.com.au/dear.htm


I concur with Alderr, below, that Vogelvry Nurseries will sell you
three varieties of Fritillaria, but does not offer F. meleagris by
itself.

I found these websites by doing an advanced search of the Google
search engine for the phrase "Fritillaria meleagris" and site:.au.   I
also had some good results searching for ?snakes head Fritillaria
site:.au? This ensured that I got only websites that use the
Australian country code.  Using F. meleagris as a phrase or without
the quotations wasn?t particularly helpful.  I should note that in
order to get information out of the results I often had to play with
the URLs a bit to get to the main page for each nursery, etc.

Please let me know if I can help further with this question!

Librariankt

---

Clarification of Answer by librariankt-ga on 27 Jan 2005 15:50 PST

Thanks for the feedback and the tip!  I wish I had a more shady, less
dry yard - this is a really nifty flower.  Enjoy!  LKT

Thanks: I've got Vogelvry's catalogue now, thanks to your suggestion,
& they sell individual Fritillaria meleagris bulbs for $2.50 each,
which is great, & I'll be ordering some come next Age Pension day!

This company has them, but it looks like you have to buy them as part
of a collection of Fritillaria species:

http://www.vogelvry.com.au/springflowers/Spring%20flowering%20bulbs.html

This company lists Fritillaria, but they don't say which species:

http://www.nurseriesonline.com.au/drewitts_bulbs/

This one doesn't seem to have a website, but they say they have "The
widest range of crocus, cyclamen, galanthus and fritillaria in
Australia.""

Hillview Rare Plants
400 Huon Rd South Hobart TAS 7004
PH (03) 62240770  
Catalogue 1 x 45c stamp  
  	
I found these by searching on <Fritillaria meleagris Australia>, which
got me this page:

http://www.nurseriesonline.com.au/PAGES/Fritillaria.html

This company might also have them:

http://www.daffodilbulbs.com.au/Download/Bulbs2004.pdf

Thank you librariankt-ga for your kind words. I've got probably the
smallest garden in Australia that supports a mature apricot tree, a
huge fruit-laden fig tree, a lemon tree & a lime tree in tubs, a
assionfruit vine and a grape vine, all flourishing because its all
grown according to Permaculture principles. And I've now got two 4
month old kittens, who are being trained to leave the plants strictly
alone. If your courtyard's too dry, grow fritillaria
in pots --- that's what I'm going to do.
babs-ga