Remember the Allium!! Post your Pics Please!?

Hi, everybody--

I am so excited about my Allium garden this spring so I thought I would share a few pictures.

I ordered Allium 'Mars', 'Gladiator', 'Giganteum', 'Lucy Ball', and several other big and small ones from a group purchase with Bleek and also Brent & Becky' catalog, and this spring I really have some wonderful blooms.

Before I became a member of DG two years ago, I did not have a clue what an ornamental onion was, but I'm so glad I discovered them! (Thanks to Todd B. who I think is a real expert on them: )

http://www.berkshirebotanical.org/Articles/bnargs_alliums.htm

These are pics of my big ones

Let's see some Allium pics from your garden?!!

This is a double-double 'color echo'

White allium-white yarrow, and purple allium-wee little purple border iris, in the back...(can you tell I'm a newbie gardener and thrilled when anything comes up?!)

Opposite angle on the color echo...

Alliums among the chartreuse hosta. A nice combination.

More allium with narcissus 'baby moon' and hosta...

I think four different kinds in this pic, and don't ask me what they are...maybe Bleek can help out with ID's!

No more for me. Any body else have allium pics to post? I'd like to see some little ones, too....

Very pretty. Gorgeous setting too. Mine are just about to open up. I can hardly wait.

hi! dee! hoo! tobasco! heres my gigantiums they've been expanding about an inch a week since it opened up the other five are just now starting to open my leaves are burning at the tips and im not sure why to much water? my persian blues didnt come up at all im very dissapointed in them, soil is good,though on the acid side but very fertile.

My Alliums are not open yet. I guess I'll post more when they are all blossom.

Allium globes:

Giant Alliums-

Single giant allium.

Allium relative- Nectaroscordum.

Nectaroscordum underneath.

Allium schubertii - the star shaped florets are on stalks unequal in length, taken as a whole it is about basketball size. These 3 are the first set to bloom, two more sets are about to burst forth and hopefully I can get a better picture to illustrate their uniqueness.

Allium schubertii about to burst out.

Allium foliage always shows signs of burning at the tips - it's perfectly normal when you think of these as onions - their flowering signals the end of the cycle so the foliage starts dying down. If you plant among other perennials it should help to disguise them. I love alliums and most of mine are still to flower. I'm getting more into the smaller species types. There are so many! So I have many to post but not yet! Well I can share this one. It's allium paradoxum normale. Great photos everyone.

I love this little one, allium moly.

allium uniolium is also lovely because of it's limey green leaves and lavender pink flowers

Here is 'Globemaster'

And 'Gladiator'

These are amazing shots - my globes are just popping now. What are the white Alliums, that have the wide brim leaves that sit very low to the earth? I thoguth they were just called "Alba" but there may be another name. (They too are not out yet) I adore Alliums - they are pest free, multiply rapidly, last a long while & the dying foliage is unobtrusive. My Mom calls them "Space Flowers."
Julie

I think you are referring to allium "Ivory Queen", a 'karataviense'.

I planted several in my garden this year, and I was surprised to find out they are only about 10 inches tall, if that! Very interesting blue foliage, though. And a pretty ivory colored ball on mine, which 'they' say is much improved over the 'pasty grey-mauve' ball on the original.

http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/BigBallAlliums

We have quite a range of allium posted here, and galanthophile no doubt has some interesting additions for next week!

'They' say (again I say the anonymous 'they' and I have to get away from that!) the hybridizers are working on many more-- alliums are getting very popular.

What is blooming with your alliums? I need a nice white flower bloom to off set the purple balls. Any ideas for flower combinations?

another shot...maybe somebody knows if the little white flower is an allium, too?

This message was edited May 9, 2006 7:26 PM

Here is a combo (not white and purple) that my two year old planted last fall in our orchard.

A close up.

It would help to add the image...

This is the companion tulip.

Another favorite.
Allium azureum.

t, thinking of white things blooming now to combine with the purple balls, an Aquilegia, 'Lime Sorbet' I have blooming sounds like it may be a fun contrast of form. It's a taller, pendulous variety. They remind me of little dancing fairies; they'd be cute dancing among spheres. White bleeding heart came to mind, but that could be hard to time. I've one that's finished blooming, and another 4' from it that's just begun, weird huh? Anyhow, my Clematis montana grandiflora is blooming and has lovely dogwood like blooms. That could be a pretty back drop for the alliums. I'm growing mine up a tree, and so far, so good. It looks like there are trees in some of your beds that may work. A fluffy mound of white hardy geraniums would be pretty with alliums floating above. I started a bunch of G. pyreniacum alba from seed, and as well as they're doing, I think they'll be blooming size next year. When you drive down, we'll add that to your goodies if you want to try them :)

tobasco,
the little white flower you refer to looks like an ornithogalum...

Here's mine.

A closer view.

The best thing about Alliums? The critters leave them alone! The daily rain stroms & cooler weather have mine stalled right now - they are half opened, waiting for a warm sunny day. This is one of the first years I have seen the Tulips pass, before the Alliums are out. I like the two in bloom together. I have some younger Alliums that the stems are actually rotted from all this wet weather. I guess that means that next year they will be full size. Gorgeous photos folks!

My giant whites are stalled, too, although not rotted, and I am grateful the deer and bunnies are leaving them alone. If I am lucky they will bloom with my Eremurus.

Gem., I will have to try the lime sorbet aquilegia. I wonder if I can Winter Sow them (my new obsession) they sound perfect... My clamatis are being coy and refuse to bloom this spring. And I will definitely try the white bleeding hearts. I saw them in the Civic Garden with white edged hostas and they were stunning.

I rather like these Camassia semi-plena with the purple allium (not sure which kind). The deer seem to be leaving the camassia alone, too... keeping my fingers crossed, of course...

Oooh, those are a lovely contrast! And I love the way the tall bearded iris echos the color of the Japanese maple. Aquilegias are a perfect choice for winter sowing; the freezing and thawing is needed for germination.

Oh - that yellow Camassia is pretty! I just have the pale blue - it was listed as leichtinii, but ther photos of leichtinii look more lavender in color than mine. In the database, mine look like cusickii. Have yours spread easily in your garden?

JRush and gem, -- thanks. This is the first year I have planted the semi-plena camassia. I hope it likes it's spot and comes back again. Apparently there is both a single and double white camassia, and some say it blooms two weeks later than the blues--it bloomed later in my garden, but I don't know if it was two weeks later.

I have three kinds of blue camassia in the back yard, however, I think it needs more sun than we have to naturalize properly. I understand that there is quite a color range of blues to lavenders available, depending on the strain and supplier. That may account for your different shade, too.

Allium with hardy geranium-- a nice color echo...

Several of my alliums are still blooming...it's been interesting watching the flowering sequence and what allium blooms with what other perennials...earlier or later, etc.

Right now I have multibulbosums blooming with 'globemasters' and late bearded iris. A combination I would like to repeat next year.

For reference. I use the Scheepers Allium page, which I am finding helpful for next years' planning...

http://www.johnscheepers.com/catview.cgi?_fn=Product&_category=Allium



This message was edited May 29, 2006 1:47 PM