Re: allium -Reply -Reply

Thanks Bob.  Your corollation to tulips and alliums
makes sense:  my soil is so wet and clayey, even
on the hottest dries slope out front, that I treat and
invest in tulips with an "annual only" mentality;
guess I'll have to approach alliums the same way.  

I don't mind the dying foliage because my beds are
so stuffed something else is always overtaking its
neighbor -- sometimes with a little extra guidance
from me... or I purposely plan something that
comes up later, such as mums, to hide the foliage.

Susan Saxton

For mine is just a little old-fashioned garden where
the flowers come together to praise the Lord and
teach all who look upon them to do likewise.
Celia Thaxter
1835-1894

>>> "Robert Campbell" <rbcamp@neptune.on.ca>
12/16/98 01:42pm >>>
Valerie, given the right kind of climate and soil
conditions, repeating
alliums are not just a rumour-just as well at $5 a
bulb for the giants here.
I planted 5 bulbs (which I considered a respectable
investment) four years
ago.  The second year I had 10 plants
and have been stable at that number for the last two
years.
I also have some of the small pink flowering ones
with loose umbels but have
forgotten the name (something starting with m and
sounding slavic?).  They
continue to bloom for me as well, as does moly, a
nice yellow flowered
allium.  And then of course there are the chives,
planted by a previous
owner and now running wild in the lawn. Quite an
interesting smell when
cutting the grass.
Like most of the bulbs they seem to want good
drainage, hot summers and cold
winters.  Mine are in sandy soil and although they
are in a spot that is a
little damper than the rest of the yard during snow
melt, I don't think you
could ever call it wet.
If tulips won't return for you, it's likely that most of the
showier alliums
won't either.
As for cutting back foliage, you are just going to
have to learn to resist
if you want to grow bulbs at all.  I get flack about it
for weeks-how messy
the garden looks, can't you do something about
them-they look like they're
dieing.  But resistance pays off in the long run.

Bob Campbell
USDA 4
Southern Ontario
>My alliums never come back.  I like to think of
them in the same category
>as tulips -- never a repeat despite rumors. 
Probably because I'm too lazy
>to dig them deeply enough or because I can't
stand to see the leaves just
>sit there and wither to a vulgar yellow like you're
supposed to.
>
>Either way, I can't do without them in my garden
with the foxgloves and
>roses.  I have to buy them every year.  That way,
there's never that awful
>wondering if they'll come back!
>
>
>Val in KY
>zone 6a
>
>
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