Erythronium - Dogtooth Violets and Fawn Lilies

Erythroniums combine a hot-house exoticism with a woodland constitution. With long tapering petals swept back from colorful hearts and long stamens, flowers are held on graceful arching stems. Flowering mostly in April and May, they look wonderful under trees, where they'll sparkle in the soft slanting spring sunshine and thrive and spread in the loamy soil.

Other plus points include handsome foliage, sometimes marbled and speckled with bronze or white, but always thick and velvety, a wonderful range of translucent colors, from silvery white, through to palest lemon and on to deep lavender, and heights of up to 50cm (20") - these are no shrinking violets. They really are a cut above other spring bulbs.