Porous, well-drained pots and sandy soil mix ensure that crown imperial bulbs and roots never get too wet.

Despite its reek of wet fur and garlic, this very old flower bulb is grand enough to make a tulip question its self-esteem. But perhaps like the unwashed monarchs of old England, fritillary's regal bearing is too great to exclude from early gardens on a bad smell alone. Standing to three feet tall and topped with clusters of hot-colored nodding blooms, the crown imperial rarely comes indoors as a cut flower.

The home range of this 'Fritillaria imperialis' spans a vast region of arid Asia Minor, with populations from Turkey to Iraq and into the Himalayas. This rugged dry region like the mountains of Afghanistan often lacks single green thing due to voracious browsers. The survival of any plant depends on the ability to fend them off in the dry season. Specific compounds are present in bulbs, leaves, stems and flowers of nearly all Fritillaria species. They are quite effective in repelling rodents and other herbivores naturally. This includes problem squirrels and chipmunks.

Apparently wet fur and garlic doesn't appeal to deer either, but this aversion should be verified locally before a great deal is invested in buying bulbs. Rarely has there been such an extraordinarily beautiful candidate for deer afflicted gardens.

The species was introduced to Europe four hundred years ago where it soon appeared around the edges of lawns and grasslands. The plant's unique ability to deter gophers and turf burrowing moles led to its use as a gorgeous living plant moat. This may be the primary reason it is still in widespread cultivation today.

Crown imperial is often planted at a distance, for obvious reasons, in groupings of six to twelve to intensify its visibility from long range. You can intersperse fritillary bulbs through your ground cover stands and concentrate them at key points where animals are likely to enter kitchen and cutting gardens. Be cautious about using them in foundation planting and other high traffic areas because odor is released when plants are the least bit disturbed.

Crown imperial bulbs are available in a red-orange flowered form and a yellow one. The red is by far the most commonly grown and widely available. Both are hardy to USDA Zone 5.

Grade A bulbs costs from four to eight dollars and higher, depending on the source. Discounts may apply to larger quantities. If used for pest control where the plant itself is the value, not necessarily the flower, younger undersized bulbs may be bought more cheaply to mature in the landscape.

Crown imperial thrives in well drained soils with even moisture similar to the higher mountains of its homeland. These porous pockets of earth fail to hold water for long, guaranteeing the bulb and its roots an airy abode. In heavier soils they wither quickly in the oxygen depleted soils and fail to thrive. In the past gardeners have tried to lighten their soil under the bulbs with coarse sand to simulate this naturally fast draining condition. Perhaps more effective is to plant the bulbs in elevated gardens, rocky banks, raised beds or rock gardens.

Crown imperials are staggeringly beautiful in large pots and planters. Here it is equally, if not more important to utilize a porous mix such as cactus soil. The container must have a very large drain hole or numerous ones to keep the soil enriched with oxygen.

Nearly all online and catalog bulb sellers carry crown imperial, but look closely at the price. Some houses charge double what a competitor will for what appears to be the very same plant. You wouldn't guess the tally of descriptive terms for the infamous fritillary from its elegant photos in the catalogs. But rest assured the aroma described as phenolic, putrid, sulfurous, sweaty and foxy may, in a deer ravaged garden, become the sweet smell of success.