This year's Allium plants

I love growing alliums. You put them in the ground at the appropriate depth in the fall, and nothing seems to bother them. The larger the plant, the earlier they want to start producing foliage. So reliably for most of them. Yet I never had good luck with some of the not-so-ordinary bulbs.

Thanks to Donna Mack, I had the courage to again try A. Schubertii. Star of Persia is one of Donna's that captured my heart from the moment I saw her photo. I ordered from Colorblends, got more than I remembered ordering in the the fall. Then I got short on time and it got really cold, and I forgot about them. Until today.

It is like Christmas or being a new parent. This spring the weather got really hot and then really cool. And I never even noticed them until today

The first is Schubertii, and the second and third (I think) are Star of Persia. Fourth are the giants which accent the garden. The fifth (white) is a nigrum. Here's hoping we have the same good luck with the blue ones. It's been a lacklustre spring for many of the plants and tons of surprises for others.
Marcia

Dear Marcia,

I smiled when I read this. How sweet of you to mention me. Yes, I just love alliums. One I put in a large number of this year was karataviense, which was very successful. This is a good year for alliums I think. My blue ones (caeruleum) are in bud now. I think they will be blooming very soon. And my drumstick alliums are at their full height and budded. I have them with my roses and peonies and some general perennials. I particularly love Star of Persia, which seems to go with everything!

I do tend to forget them until they delight me by appearing. And no, nothing stops them!

Donna

Don't forget to take pictures!

Here is allium karataviense. It comes with white flowers in the form of 'Ivory Queen' but I love this one. I accidentally ordered them from two sources, so I had about 20.

In the background of the second picture, their little heads are there. I love the foliage, because it gives them more interest. And all of them bloomed.

And then I have things in progress. I found that allium caeruleum is better in clumps. It's in bud. With a drumstick allium coming up nearby.

Almost everything in my yard is new. I planted 28 roses in the last year. I just installed Dublin Bay on the trellis, and you can see the allium christophiis starting to come up. The lovely bright shrub is Deutzia 'Chardonnay Pearls' that I brought from my former home. It's perfect in front of the PJM rhodie, which bloomed earlier. Looks delicate, but it's rock solid.

In the fifth pic, which is to the left of the stuff above, the christophiis are coming up with the nepeta, the geranuium biokovo, and a bunch of other stuff. The pink is oreophylum.

As you can see, most stuff is in bud. But I heartily recommend karateviense because it was the very first in my garden to bloom, and it has staying power.

There is still a Allium Co-op going on.

Looking good! And your yard is so neat!

Karataviense really does have lovely foliage and a nice bloom. Most of the others seem to put so much energy into the blooms that the foliage tends to dry at the tips and then inward by full bloom time.

I know the are a lot of allium caeruleum, but I don't think they've poked through yet unless I don't know what to look for. I was expecting something like 10-12 inches. Generally the drumsticks start blooming toward the end of June. Each fall I add more of the other allium bulbs, but the drumsticks are the originals from about 5 years ago. They are the least favorite because they tend to need some support or fall to other bad ends, because their stalks are not strong, but they are still reliable. At this point there are some huge, tall heads peeling back, turning lavender as they hit the sun. Can't wait to see what they are. At this point we've had alliums since early May and going strong. The dead heads are not all that unattractive. I generally cut them. Do you let them go to seed?

Unlike peonies, that need time to get stronger every year, roses can be cut down to nothing and still give you a good year. Ours are already on the attack with large thorns and some buds, and I'm sure your new plants will make you proud. Here's hoping....

I am now obsessed with alliums. They are outstanding. I wish I had kept better track of which varieties I have in my garden. I recently put in "Millenium" which is late summer flowering and well behaved and clumping. Anyone have any experience with it?

The other day I was at an independent family nursery and I was so impressed with christophii. The more airy look of the globe flower was so cool plus it seems to be (much) less tall than many of the varieties I have. I must remember to plant some this fall.

Do you find it a problem (in terms of plant health for the next spring) if one cuts back the allium stalk and leaves once the flower is spent?

Allium caeruleum has been rocking out for me this year. It's been in bloom for weeks. I grew it this time in little clusters. I got ten from Brent and Becky's bulbs and they are the largest I have ever seen.

These are FADED!

I really encourage you to get christophii. It is astounding. In the third picture, it is with Rose Marie Pavie.

And if you don't deadhead it, the last pic shows what it can do - and then you can give it to friends. I once shipped half a dozen in bud across the country, and when they got there they bloomed.

It sometimes seems to disappear after the first year, and you think it's gone. Then you buy more. Then year three the "missing" ones appear. They are easy to dig up and easy to move even after they have started growing, and you can turn them into "exclamation points" all over your yard.

And no, it will not affect the plant health if you do what you say - the foliage must be spent. And it will keep them from seeding (so you won't get picture #5)!

Yet to see a single caeruleum, and I cannot tell you how many were planted!

The other alliums put on a spectacular show that lasted about a month or more, so I should not complain. The drumsticks have not come out yet.

I am ashamed because I promised to share bulbs in the fall and one thing led to another, and it never got done before winter really set in.

The Christophii were so amazing and are now pretty much finished. Only with your encouragement, Donna. And they are probably the only plants that the deer do not destroy.

My caeruleums have been pretty wimpy in the past. This year I gt them from B&B for the first time, and they are still in boom and have been for several weeks. They are also taller than I remember.

I suspect that it is an improved cultivar - not that they say so.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1366530/

Do DG members have experience with this yellow flower allium.(Allium OBLIQUUM)?

https://www.gardenimport.com/spblvl3.php?lvl=Allium&nm=Allium&ref=AL1490

Fantastic! I've never seen it before!

It seems a bit pricey.

It's very pricey. The big purple lollipop type ones had prices like that in the beginning. I never bought any of them. The most expensive bulb I ever bought was christophii, at about $1 each. And then they multiplied like mad. Some of the "sexy" new hybrids don't come back, and they often don't come true from seed.

i've yet to see an Allium caeruleum, and heaven knows I planted a ton of them in the fall. This is the third attempt at them. The Christophii and Schubertii may have been pricey (I cannot recall), but they all grew and bloomed beautifully for the first time.

The last group came from Colorblends, and the others all came from garden centers or possibly American Meadows. Apparently allium caeruleum either does not like my soil or I am not planting them properly, both of which I doubt since they are planted in more than one area and all the other alliums have grown.

We are experiencing a "throng" of chipmunks which make the containers their haven for digging andI guess eating. Every time we pot up bulbs (not the alliums), your can see the chipmunk damage. Since alliums get planted in the fall, I don't know if chipmunks go after them.

My Red Alert lily bulbs, which have been bulletproof for years, disappeared entirely. I suspect chipmunks or squirrels, and when I buy the again, I'm going to put down pepper and Milorganite to keep it from happening again.

I put in a bunch of allium karataviense and all of them came up, but some came up 20 or 30 feet from where I planted them. I suspect squirrels. I must say, though, that they have nice design sense. I likes the locations and left them there!

I am expecting my on-line order of "christophii" in the next few weeks but the impatient one I am I have looked at several nurseries for a few "christophii"...none of them stock it; many other alliums but no "christophii".