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A specialist group at https://www.fritillaria.org.uk/uk-sites.html
lists one site in Sussex where these native flowers can be seen – in the bog garden
at Wakehurst Place.
Over decades, I have searched damp meadows in Surrey
and Sussex and failed to find these flowers in the wild.
Now they have naturalised in my wildflower lawn in
Cuckfield. These photographs were taken on Monday 24 March 2025.
How is this possible? Bulbs purchased from commercial growers set seed, which has been scattered around the garden, germinated, put up green shoots and because the grass is mown rarely, have developed bulbs and flowered.
Cuckfield has a ring of springs surrounding the village
and my garden is on that contour line.
Although with no spring, the garden is very damp. Marsh thistles and a dozen or more Southern marsh
orchids also thrive in the lawn.
