Whats going on with my Alliums?

I bought a packet of allium bulbs last year from waitrose. The packet contained all the same bulb and I planted them in identical containers with the same compost in them and they spent the winter and up until last month in the same position in my garden. Yet the leaves look totally different and both pots look totally different.





Has anyone got any ideas as to what has happened? Btw it is my first year growing alliums.

 

Hi

so same size pot and same compost ?
I think they have been kept in different parts of the garden I bet one is in a windy cold spot ?

Spruce

 

Nope both were kept in the same spot up until the end of april. They have looked completely different ever since they started to appear

And yeh exactly the same pot they are a matching pair and same compost

The fuller healthier pot did appear first about a month earlier compared to the pot with the flowering opening on it

 

is the drainage holes the same in both as one does remind me off being too wet where both kept on the soil or paving ? as the drainage holes may have become blocked , hey at least you will have a longer flowering period

 

This is true

Both have the same holes they were already made in the pots so exactly the same.

Both had gravel in the bottom of the pot i think well either way they both had gravel or no gravel lol

And both were just sat on paving next to each other

The one pot only got the pot feet a week ago

Its really weird but then my whole garden is my french lavender is in full shade as is doing amazingly

 

Soooo
the one that is NOT looking as good as the other one dint have feet on till last week ? or am I loosing the plot ?

 

That is correct. The worst looking one only got the pot feet last week.

The pot feet were previously under my chocolate hydrangea pot but thats now been planted out in the garden

 

yes sooo too wet , they will be fine its probably rotted some of the roots how would you like to have a "soggy bottom"

So still sane

Spruce

 

But the other pot has never had pot feet. Lol

Can one pot be soggier than the other then even though they are the same and were sat next to each other?

Is it just one of those things?

 

Lurve the bill and ben pot feet!!!

 

I brought a collection of Allium bulbs from J Parkers a few years back. It was good because while the leaves looked similar, and the flower heads started the same when they come up, they end up flowering at different times and they looked very different because of course they were a mixed collection.

However I was puzzled because I was convinced I had planted them in "sets" rather than mixed them all up, always assumed J Parkers had muddled them up in the bags. So maybe although you think you have the same bulbs, perhaps they are different species? Until they are both flowering you won't know, but just a possibility perhaps.

 

Thank you M my mum got me them as a jokey prezzie :-)

I did think that as well feathered fish. I thought maybe waitrose might have got it slightly wrong and sold a bag of mixed alliums instead of all the same. But if that is the case then I did a really good job of only planting the one type in one pot and the other type in the other without knowing they were different. It seems a big coincidence

*sigh* i guess it will just be a bit of a mystery

 

I'm tempted to say that the ones in the first pot are not planted deep enough.
One question - is there any difference in the texture of the leaves?

 

just ran out into the garden

In the better looking pot, the leaves are very rubbery and thick

and in the other pot the leaves are a bit like limp spring onions

 

Is one type of leaf smooth to the touch, the other slightly rough (almost bristly)?