Allium 2010

[Anthony Darby]

Sounds a bit eccentric to me!

[TheOnionMan]

... And set to Wagner, naturally ... with libretto by Tolkein ... and scenery sponsored by the Olympics Committee ... in the Saturn Theatre?
 ... Don't ring us ... we'll ring you!   

In this American Allium garden, and in keeping with my Irish heritage, I do bring my boombox out onto the deck and serenade my Allium beds with piano jazz great Oscar Peterson , the blue-leaf A. nutans partial to "Boogie Blue Etude", carefully balanced with inspirational piano concertos by Irish composer John Field http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Field_(composer), all performed in the theatre of life .  They approve.

But Leslie, you have given me an idea... my Houstonia caerulea are seeding all around, think I'll populate the onion ring centers with those, a bit more tasteful than those garish Dionysia.

[Lesley Cox]

Sounds a bit eccentric to me!

No, I'm thinking CONcentric here.

Yes Mark, I'm all for tasteful rather than garish. If you're playing Field to your Alliums, presumably it's at night?

[TheOnionMan]

Yes Mark, I'm all for tasteful rather than garish. If you're playing Field to your Alliums, presumably it's at night?

Due to the serious spring biting-gnat issues here, and all-season-long mosquito problems (big as bats ), the music must be played daytime.

[Stephenb]

Fascinating, Mark! How old is this ring? Have you worked out the speed of outward expansion? (in m/s, please  )

Have you seen pictures in nature like this or does competion with other plants destroy or slow down the concentricity - old growth Allium nutans?

[TheOnionMan]

Fascinating, Mark! How old is this ring? Have you worked out the speed of outward expansion? (in m/s, please  )

I'm working on the speed calculation, still trying to find my old slide-rule and calculus books

Have you seen pictures in nature like this or does competion with other plants destroy or slow down the concentricity - old growth Allium nutans?

I haven't seen photos of whole plants in nature, and when one does find such photos of Allium in the wild, almost always they depict just the flowers.  However, I must believe that this is normal behavior for species like nutans, senescens, burjaticum, and some others.  Most of my nutans/senescens hybrids show this behavior.  It can also be seen with Iris; I'm showing two large clumps of Siberian Iris hybrids that illustrate the same behavior, maybe not as distinctly.  The donut-hole effect is apparent when fairly young, with plants just a few years old, but it takes at least 10 years to get large rings like the one shown previously.  Also, the open center area can become invaded with seedlings.  I include a photo that shows two rings that expanded into each other, with the overlap interference clearly visible.  The last Allium photo shows a nutans hybrid that so far, does not show inclinations to grow in a ring, this one with bright shiny green strap foliage and stems to 3-1/2' (105 cm) with white flowers.

Maggi: can you move this "Onion Ring" discussion to the Allium 2010 thread, starting with the initial message with my mystery onion ring, as I think it will be a better place to continue the discussion.  Thanks!

[Armin]

Nice Alliums - a group of many attractive species.
I have to keep an eye open

[Lesley Cox]

Yes Mark, I'm all for tasteful rather than garish. If you're playing Field to your Alliums, presumably it's at night?

Due to the serious spring biting-gnat issues here, and all-season-long mosquito problems (big as bats ), the music must be played daytime.

No nocturnes then?

[TheOnionMan]

Yes Mark, I'm all for tasteful rather than garish. If you're playing Field to your Alliums, presumably it's at night?

Due to the serious spring biting-gnat issues here, and all-season-long mosquito problems (big as bats ), the music must be played daytime.

No nocturnes then?

Well, actually yes... Piano Concerto No. 3 in E-flat major; second movement is Nocturne in B-flat; Andantino, performed by Sir Charles Mackerras and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra... good taste eh?  Listening to it now as I type this and dream about onions

[TheOnionMan]

Here is my favorite among the North American Allium in flower again. It has done well in the past year. It must not need the summer dryness that it gets in central Kansas.

 Allium perdulce - very sweetly Dianthus like scent that pours out into the air! I found this population in the wild by its scent one spring in a vernally flooded field. There was a large population growing in heavy black clay soil with ca. 2 cm of water standing on the surface and the wind was blowing my way with the fragrance in the air. I have another collection from the Dakota sands of Kansas that is a far worse grower and is not flowering this year (nor last year).

 Aaron

Aaron, so glad to see this one again... wish it were not so difficult and recalcitrant in the garden.  Unfortunately, the one you had given me only persisted into a second season, without flowering, and then no more   The perfume is indeed amazing.  There are several other southwestern American species with similarly richly perfumed flowers, I believe A. ecristatum is one of them... I need to start scanning Thad Howard's notes. At least I have some photographic memories of this fine little midwestern American prairie onion, which I share with SRGC readers.  When I had the luxury of time (pre-children days ), I liked to dig up plants, wash off all soil, and draw the plants in their entirety, roots and all, so I include a drawing of A. perdulce as well.

[TheOnionMan]

Always the first Allium to bloom in the garden here, is A. paradoxum var. normale.  The foliage got whacked by frost one night when it suddenly dipped to 18 F (-9 C), but some foliage and all buds survived.  The photo shows the bulbs being encroached by a vigorous Allium nutans hybrids with bold finger-like foliage, which I need to move before it wipes of paradoxum var. normale.  Closely following on it's heals, the next to bloom is Allium zebdanense.

[TheOnionMan]

Following up on "onion rings", I was doing some yard cleanup, and went to dump a wheelbarrow full of leaf and plant debris, and there I find an upsidedown clump of an inferior A. nutans hybrid I dug out last year and discarded.  Well, bless its little heart, after a whole winter with its roots in the air, all of the shoots sprouted and were attempting to right themselves towards the sun!  I seized the opportunity to show what the backside of an onion ring looks like, with the knobby, connected Iris-like rhizomes, the growing points only on the perimeter.

One has to admire the tenacity of such species as A. nutans and senescens. After this photo, I tossed it back into the refuse bin.  

[Lesley Cox]

Well, actually yes... Piano Concerto No. 3 in E-flat major; second movement is Nocturne in B-flat; Andantino, performed by Sir Charles Mackerras and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra... good taste eh?  Listening to it now as I type this and dream about onions

Nice to be an onion at your place. Here they're more likely to end up in the frypan or a good stew.

Re the onion ring, why not twine some extra stuff through the mass to make a great door wreath?

[Lesley Cox]

And talking of tenacity, I thought I'd lost all my chives patch but found some a few days ago in a place where I'd sprayed with Roundup at least 4 times in the last couple of years. But they look as healthy as can be and I've already used some in an egg sandwich.

[TheOnionMan]

Allium zebdanense is on deck, truly a good species for a woodland garden (although it will grow and flower in sun too).