Bulbs: Rock Garden Bulbs, 1 by Sally_Denver

Sally_Denver wrote:
I promised another picture, of mid-summer alliums. This is the whole gravel berm that I made mainly as a happy bulb place in my south yard in Fall 2003, and this is the first summer (so a bit sparse). (The pic I posted above with earlier alliums is the west end, but close to shading structures.)

The giant fireworks-type seedhead is Allium schubertii. It is about 12" tall, with flower heads so large they almost touch the ground. Florets are purple, but the big deal is the architecture - fabulous dried. I just set the heads around the garden as artwork, or fairy soccer-balls, once they are dried.

The reddish, taller but small-headed are drumstick allium (A. sphaerocephalon) These are hard to see in the pic, becuase there is nothing but tall skinny stem (many bowed over) and an egg-shaped purplish flower head on top, and the gravel is also reddish. I see 6 flowerheads in this pic, taken July 7, 2004. They are terrific peeking through lower perennials or annuals as punctuation marks.

I think with careful selection, you could have some allium in bloom all season long!