Allium 2009

[fermi de Sousa]

Mark,
if they were available here they wouldn't cost just half a dollar!
cheers
fermi

[Janis Ruksans]

Some of Iranian Alliums I succeed to identify in situ, some only in home. Here first 3 pictures of Allium breviscapum near Kuh-e Alvand where it is growing on steep slopes covered with small flat boulders and dwarf spiny shrubs at 2830 m altitude. Still plenty of snow around but we succeed to go there only because of very early spring opening the pass. On last two pictures the same plants blooming in my collection (not very good pictures).
Janis

[Janis Ruksans]

  Here are pictures of cultivars 'Red Globe' with ginormous (reference the movie Elf) flower heads of brooding red (an expensive thing to get).  It is larger-flowered than the recently named subspecies var. henrikii (named for Henrik Zetterlund) which has large heads of more rosey-red flowers. 

Mark, 'Red Globe' is named by me and Henrik and it isn't clone but seed raised strain. It is the name given to this Allium before I finally decided that it must be named as subsp. henrikii of Allium karataviense. It is very constant from seeds, something variable in height and in shade of red. Here I'm attaching pictures of it in wild (scan from photo as at that time I hadn't digital camera), in garden and one of most unusual selection from its seedlings selected 3 years ago which I named 'Double Joy'. It is the first Allium with double flowers (may be I don't know about others) and excellent increaser as instead of seeds it makes bulbils.
Janis

[Paul T]

Janis,

I love the twisty foliage of some of them.  Beautiful.

Mark,

Thanks for the info on the lovely leaves.  I think I will have to look out for seed from that species to try it.  I have a vague feeling that is one of the few that I have tried from seed, but that I was unsuccessful.  With those wonderful red flowers (and the other colours you show too, for that matter!  ) it would be well worthwhile trying.

Thanks for taking the time to upload pics and information, both yourself and Janis. 

[Onion]

What fantastic pictures 

all this superb species at this time of the year, with the snow outside.

Janis is A. breviscapum in your new stock list ? Is this list available per Mail ?

Mark in the pictures of yesterday I see that you covered the ground with bark. Why do you use bark for the covering ?

Thanks a lot Uli

[Stephenb]

Has anyone here experience with Allium grayi (I think A. macrostemon is a synonym)? I'm particularly interested in this species as it is a fairly important edible onion in the Far East (Korea and Japan), collected from the wild and cultivated. It's also apparently cultivated in the US on a small scale in the US for the Korean community.

Looking at Korean and Japanese sites, it seems to be a bulbilliferous species (perhaps similar to our Allium oleraceum/vineale and hence potentially invasive in a garden)(Flora of China confirms this).

I am also very keen to get hold of bulbs, bulbils or seed.  I doesn't seem to be available in the UK (Plant Finder). Have found seed offered on a Korean site, but difficult to order ....

I had A. macrostemon v. uratense once (I think from Berkutenko), but I'm not sure what happened to it.

How hardy is grayi/macrostemon?

[Janis Ruksans]

What fantastic pictures  

all this superb species at this time of the year, with the snow outside.

Janis is A. breviscapum in your new stock list ? Is this list available per Mail ?

Mark in the pictures of yesterday I see that you covered the ground with bark. Why do you use bark for the covering ?

Thanks a lot Uli

No, A. breviscapum will be available after 3-4 years only - when its seedlings will reach flowering size if I still will be in business. On picture from nursery you can see all stock what I have at present. My new catalogue is almost ready - now must to shorten it for 6-7 pages. In January I will send text part of catalogue to you and others who will be interested by e-mail.
Janis

[Janis Ruksans]

Janis,

I love the twisty foliage of some of them.  Beautiful.

Paul, many plants with beautifully twisted leaves in cultivation aren't such. I suppose it is caused by temperature regime during leaf development in wild and in cultivation. I noted this between Ornithogalums, too.
Janis

[TheOnionMan]

Some of Iranian Alliums I succeed to identify in situ, some only in home. Here first 3 pictures of Allium breviscapum near Kuh-e Alvand where it is growing on steep slopes covered with small flat boulders and dwarf spiny shrubs at 2830 m altitude. Still plenty of snow around but we succeed to go there only because of very early spring opening the pass. On last two pictures the same plants blooming in my collection (not very good pictures).
Janis

Very nice to be sure, but I am still a firm believer in the Allium (section Acanthoprasum) continuum.

I will second Simon's endorsement of Allium section Acanthoprasum, so many wonderful variations.  Janis, your Allium breviscapum plants looks fantastic, interesting in the wild, but as seems to be the case, even better and more floriferous under cultivation.  I wish more of these "Acantho alliums" were available.

[Maggi Young]

Allium karataviense henrikii Double Joy looks to be making seed...? Or are these bulbils forming in place of seed?



 Nice for a double form to oblige in that fashion.

[TheOnionMan]

What fantastic pictures 
Mark in the pictures of yesterday I see that you covered the ground with bark. Why do you use bark for the covering ?

Thanks a lot Uli

Good question about the bark mulch.  Not my first choice, it was an inexpersive act of desperation two years ago when my garden was being featured on a PBS (Public Broadcasting System) TV show, and I had to act quick to clean up the garden and make it presentable.  I had a pile of well-composted bark mulch at hand.  Previously, where I hadn't used any mulch at all, some parts of the garden were lost after being utterly taken over by weeds.  Until my recent unemployment, I was away from my yard from 6:45 AM until ~8:00 PM each day, virtually no time to garden and do things right.  

In my Allium beds I avoid mulch for the smaller bulbous sorts, as it promotes rot around the crown of the plants.  I have lost a lot of Allium flavum var. tauricum because of the bark mulch. It should all be done with a good gravel mulch, and I always tell myself, when I have time to redo major parts of the garden, then I will use a good gravel mulch.  On the other hand, I've had great success using decomposed pine bark mulch on my beds where I grow crocus, frits, tulipa, etc.  In partcular, sowing crocus seed directly into the mulch, loosely scratched in with the sandy soil beneath, has produced wonderful results.

[TheOnionMan]

Mark, 'Red Globe' is named by me and Henrik and it isn't clone but seed raised strain. It is the name given to this Allium before I finally decided that it must be named as subsp. henrikii of Allium karataviense. It is very constant from seeds, something variable in height and in shade of red. Here I'm attaching pictures of it in wild (scan from photo as at that time I hadn't digital camera), in garden and one of most unusual selection from its seedlings selected 3 years ago which I named 'Double Joy'. It is the first Allium with double flowers (may be I don't know about others) and excellent increaser as instead of seeds it makes bulbils.
Janis

Thanks Janis, I have always wondered about the origins of 'Red Globe'.  I must say most pictures I've seen of it look a rosy-red, although your 1st photo of plants in situ seems a darker maroonish-red similar to my plants, although much smaller heads compared to the enormous heads of my plants in cultivation.  Also, pictures of ssp. henrikii I've seen show foliage that is less robust that my cultivated plants, and also with leaves more ascending.  I suppose, like your photos of Allium akaka in your book, where you show wild plants, then gorgeous FABULOUS specimens of A. akaka flowering under cultivation where they have much larger denser inflorescences, that the difference might indeed be because of more favorable conditions under cultivation.

Arnis Seisums sent me 3 collected forms of Allium karataviense, all very different, two of which approach ssp. henrikii... sort of.  It seems that karataviense is wildly variable... just look at these three.  Here is the collection info, I'll see if in my notes I can correlate which collection belongs to which picture.  Regrettably, the aforementioned super wet spring here 4 years ago, did these forms in.  I'm particularly sorry to have lost the deep rosy-red one on short stems.
1. S. Tajikistan, W part of Darvas m. range, nr. village Lol
2. Uzbekistan, Tschatkal range, vicinity 127 km from Taschkent to Kokand, AR7A 00-34 (or 37)
3. Uzbekistan, C. part of Kurama range, valley against Angren town, SAVV 95-25

[TheOnionMan]

Has anyone here experience with Allium grayi (I think A. macrostemon is a synonym)?
 
Looking at Korean and Japanese sites, it seems to be a bulbilliferous species (perhaps similar to our Allium oleraceum/vineale and hence potentially invasive in a garden)(Flora of China confirms this).

Hi Stephen, I've had seed of A. grayi a couple times, never had any results.  I do have a form of Allium oleraceum from Richard Dadd, collected in the Atlas Mts of Morocco.  It has dull coppery color flowers and lots of bulbils.  Doesn't show much ambition to take over although it can spread mildly, unlike A. carinatum, which I pull out (then bag up in the trash) whenever I see it blooming.  I have an interesting form of Allium "kochii" (one of dozens of synonyms for forms of A. vineale), coll. Isle of Usedom, Baltic coast of Germany.  It has tiny, dark red-purple flowers intermixed with bulbils in the inflorescence, atop 2' stems.  It has never shown any signs of increase or weediness, although regular A. vineale is a terrible introduced weed in much of the USA.

[Janis Ruksans]

Allium karataviense henrikii Double Joy looks to be making seed...? Or are these bulbils forming in place of seed?



 Nice for a double form to oblige in that fashion.

Yes Maggi, it forms bulbils instead of seed and I have3 now 2 years old "bulbilings" growing up.
Janis

[TheOnionMan]

I love the twisty foliage of some of them.  Beautiful.

There are some truly twisty or coiled-leaf species of allium (such as A. stocksianum; would love to get it one day).  For the time being, I'm content with my "curly chives", forms of A. schoenoprasum with strongly coiling octopus-like foliage masses, particularly strong (to nearly prostrate) in the early spring.  See this gallery for several such twisty chives:

http://www.plantbuzz.com/Buzz/PBS/im_schoeno_gal.htm