Snakes in the grass

I've always admired this plant and after years of failure I now have a small (very small) colony that is slowly increasing in number, year by year.

Fritillaria meleagris is a species of lily. Its common names include snake's head fritillary, snake's head (the original English name), chess flower, frog-cup, guinea-hen flower, guinea flower, leper lily (because its shape resembled the bell once carried by lepers), Lazarus bell, chequered lily, chequered daffodil, drooping tulip or, in northern Europe, simply fritillary. Although it looks truly exotic it is native to Britain and much of the rest of Europe.

Vita Sackville-West,  author, poet and, with her husband Sir Harold Nicolson, creator of Sissinghurst Castle Garden, called it "a sinister little flower, in the mournful colour of decay". Spot on Vita, who am I to disagree with such a great gardener?