Planting allium bulbs

My Allium bulbs that I mentioned in my post above have just arrived today, so if you also took advantage of the offer they will be on their way to you now.

Steve...

 

Excellent. I look forward to getting them planted.

 

hopefully not much longer then !!

 

Glad to see you have some of the allium drumsticks (A. sphaerocephalon) Sam. They are one of my favorites, and they are the only Allium I have which increase on its own.

All the others A. hollandicum (Purple Sensation), A christophii etc keep going from one year to another but don't multiply.

 

Watch out for A oreophilum it is a seed thug of the first order. Dead head or end up with millions of the dratted things. AND, every bulb of it splits into small blubs too!.

 

As an after thunk, how many of you grow Allium przewalskii? Or A. haematocalyx? Or A. thunbergii, in its Ozark form or as A.t. album?
Thunk not!

 

I'm looking forward to getting them as well. I think i'll plant them en masse as they look much more effective that way.

 

Quick question as in the middle of painting ...... are the allium drumstick the same as the pompom sphaerocephalon ??

 

Yes

 

Good job they are nice then as I have another 100 of those already ..... or was it 200 ?? lol

 

Palustris - I am not growing any of your more unusual species. But two years ago I did grow Allium nigrum, which I thought was very nice. However not a single one came back. Can you think of a reason? I grow several other species - and all of them always come back.

 

A. nigrum needs a very warm dry resting period over Summer, so possibly that is the reaon for its non return. When I grew this one I kept it in a pot in the greenhouse and put it on a shelf for its resting time. Lost it when we moved here as we did not have the greenhouse etc. up in time for a lot of things.

 

One of the reasons I like alliums is their ability to be left in the border and forgotten after the seed head has finally fallen apart. A. Nigrum looks lovely, but not for me if it needs extra nurturing!

 

Thanks for that info Palustris - that sounds about right. I might try some in a pot as you suggested, but as SussexG says the joy of Alliums is in being able to forget them.

I wonder if the same thing goes for A. Mount Everest, which is also white and might be related. A couple of years ago they had a magnificent show of them in the border at RHS Harlow Carr - but I haven't seen them since. Or perhaps I haven't been there at the right time - though the seed heads do last a while even if you don't see the flowers. That would be a shame as they are expensive. I had a couple in a pot this year, that I lifted successfully.

I am trying to grow several types from seed - but they are very slow to build up. Two year old A.christophii are little larger than a pearl in size.

 

Can give some help there with growing any Allium from seed. Do not prick them out. They start of with a single root and if that is damaged they have to make a new one from the basal plate. Unlike many plants the root does not branch from a broken point. Usually a baby bulb with a damaged one dies. So, leave them in the seed pot which by the way should be a deep one and pot the whole lot on into a deeper pot when needed. Finally, feed every 2 weeks in the growing season with half strngth Maxicrop or such like. Big ones do take up to 5 years to reach flowering size even so.