Fall order done!

Crazy but I have just made my order for fall planting bulbs.

ALLIUM
- ATROPURPUREUM
- CHRISTOPHII
- OBLIQUUM

Narcissus
-SCARLET TANAGER
- "ZAALING KV 172"
-

I see you gave in to obliquum, naughty girl!

I loved atropurpureum, but it never persisted for me. But it may be a change of scene. The rose Enfant du France never rebloomed in my old yard, but it is on its ffourth set of blooms. Maybe it's time to retry atropurpureum!

I bought atropurpureum in part because of your endorsement Donna in some much earlier DG post.

I am especially looking forward to having christophii in my garden for the first time.

From your experience with this allium can you tell me how tall it gets...I think I read about 2 feet?

I have never seen evidence of any of my very tall alliums spreading but again I have read that christophii does?

Christophii is about a foot tall - maybe 14 inches. It seeds like mad after a couple of years. Sometimes in year two nothing appears to return. And then 2-3 years later you have a bunch. I started giving them away, I had so many. Just don't deadhead them. I never did. This started off as about six christophii. They didn't come back, so I bought three more. There must have been 100 of them in my yard. Just dig up the bulbs and transplant them. These other pics of them are from completely different places in my yard. Only one day apart!

I hope you didn't misunderstand. I LOVED atropurpureum, but it didn't return for me. I planted it three times because I loved it so much.

But that doesn't mean it won't return for you. And it is wonderful.

Hi, from the wonderful thread you began, this is what I wrote:


Another allium I love is atropurpureum, which is a beautiful dark burgundy, but it doesn't persist from year to year in my yard, and it's expensive, so it is one I would not recommend.

Read more: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1264190/#ixzz399EU9CoU

But again, try it! I think I will too!

Oh man, I'm doing a group buy for bulbs this fall and I've committed to way too much. It will be like a daffodil explosion in our yard next spring. I'm also getting a couple alliums (purple sensation and azureum).

Sequoia,
I expect to see photos of that daffodil explosion! ;0)

Sure will!!

I only ordered winter aconite and 'tommie' crocuses. This is the beginning of an early spring bed I want to create under my Adams crabapples. It will take several years to get it fully planted out.

I planted many winter aconite last fall and as far as I could tell not one arose this past spring. I think I read that one is more successful with using seeds rather than dry bulbs/corms.

Rouge, I have failed at winter aconite too and I think I've figured it out. When I was planting the bulbs, I couldn't figure out which side was up so I guessed. Now out of 25, three came up. Now I have learned that if you plant the bulb on its side, then the bulb will sprout and figure things out on its own. It won't sprout if you guess wrong and end up putting them upside down. This is my theory at least. Now this year, the ones from last year returned and I let them go to seed and then sprinkled the seeds about. We'll see if I have any volunteers next year. I'd like to get a nice grouping of them eventually.

I've been thinking about getting winter aconite, but I've also heard that they're hard to get established.

Then I read this post: http://awaytogarden.com/extending-spring-bloom-bulbs-scott-kunst/

It says that buying the bulbs dipped in wax prevents them from drying out. Pretty cool!

Interesting about the wax dipped bulbs. I never would have thought of that. Happy gave me a chunk of them at the spring swap. I planted them near the couple I already have so hopefully in a few years I'll have a nice colony.

I am going to pre-soak them the night before I plan to plant them and see if this helps the winter aconite become established and come up in the spring.

What would you presoak them in?

warm water

I don't understand why that would help the bulb. Please share your insight.

Winter aconite is not a bulb but a tuber and is subject is moisture loss which is is why Old Country Gardens buys them waxed. Several web sites including Brent & Becky's bulbs make the following recommendation:
"Needs consistent moisture year-round (albeit less in summer and fall) even though plants go dormant by late spring. Plant tubers 2-3" deep and 3" apart in late summer to early fall. Soak tubers overnight before planting."

Interesting, thanks for teaching me something new!

Nope I haven't misunderstood. I will take my chances with this particular allium as I am allium obsessed right now.

(Although I did ditch my order of the yellow Obliquum allium due to its cost...too expensive for me and Allium "Moly" (also having a yellow flower) is more reasonably priced).

I have probably planted 25 atropurpureum the past couple of weeks. In some other thread you or someone else recommended planting them in groups as the flower head is somewhat small (but with that wonderful dark purple color). I think planted them in bunches of 5 with one Mt. Everest allium in the midst....so looking forward to the spring.

This message was edited Oct 21, 2014 3:10 PM