[pbs] The genus Allium (TOW)
Mary Sue Ittner
msittner at mcn.org
Tue Mar 4 20:02:17 EST 2003
Dear All,
Mark has provided us with an excellent introduction to this week's topic of
the week. In addition he is showing us all the potential of the wiki not
just to be a place to show your photographs but a place to share
information about a genus and particular species that are good garden
plants. He is working on it a little every day and I recommend you check
out what he is doing. I am really impressed.
http://www.ibiblio.org/pbs/pbswiki/index.php/Allium
Doesn't anyone else is this group grow Alliums? I realize that when we have
an expert in our midst others may be reluctant to speak up. I grow a number
that are native to California and some others that bloom in the summer.
One thing that always puzzles me is with so many different species and lots
of warnings that seed from seed exchanges may not be reliably named and
with such a wide distribution how in the world do you decide when to start
the seed?
Several times I have purchased ornamental Alliums from commercial sources
and planted them out and never have they ever bloomed more than one season.
(Allium uniflorum is the exception.) I expect that it is lack of water in
my present garden, but when I lived in Stockton I watered my garden in
summer. Some of these like A. moly were described for naturalizing--not in
my garden. Still some were very nice the year they bloomed. Some of Mark's
pictures of them in mass make them look like wonderful garden subjects.
I have good luck growing the natives in containers where some of them
multiply and bloom for a long time, but not as good luck once they are
planted out. I've given some to friends who have had better luck however. A
friend gave me a "native" she didn't want and I was sure it wasn't a
California species, but planted it anyway and I think it is A. senescens
and it is doing well as a garden plant. I like the foliage.
Diana and I took a Jepson Herbarium class on taxonomy of California bulbs
and I was hoping I'd learn some tricks for identifying in the field, but we
spent most of our time with microscopes. Our teacher was an Allium expert
and we learned that you tell many of the California species apart by
looking at their outer coat under the microscope. There are many different
patterns you can see. Sometimes a hand lens isn't sufficient and sometimes
the outer coat has rubbed off or disappeared so there is nothing to see
making identification a challenge. Our teacher told us the coat was very
protective of Alliums and that sometimes you could get species that had
spent time in a herbarium to come into growth years later if they still had
their protective coat. He made it sound like they could tolerate dry
storage much better than you might think.
Bulbs of North America was a wonderful addition for those of us interested
in native bulbs. I had already gotten interested in them when Jim and
Georgie Robinett gave a talk to our local California Native Plant Society
quite a number of years ago. I have many seedlings coming on from Northwest
Natives, but these are the ones I have been growing and flowering regularly:
1. Allium amplectans-- Mark has some interesting information about it on
the wiki and some nice pictures. I like it a lot but must not have the
desert form since I leave mine out to be rained on and it doesn't suffer
from that. I understand it is good eating, but how could you...
2. Allium bolanderi-- I grew this from seed and I have a dark form and it
looks a lot like Allium peninsulare which I also grow. When I look at the
pictures I take I have a hard time telling them apart although one is
slightly bigger, but the bulbs are different.
3. Allium crispum--I think I mentioned before I really like this one. It is
really long blooming and very pretty, but does better in a colder winter I
think.
4. Allium campanulatum and Allium membranceum-- These two are very similar
and I have struggled over keying them out and I think I have both. They are
very intricately marked, fun to look at under a lens. Doug Westfall found
an Allium on his mountain property in Southern California that he sent me
and I got a friend to help me key it out and we got Allium membranceum, but
that wasn't supposed to be where he found it so maybe it was the other.
5. Allium hyalinum--This one sparkles and is really cute. It multiplies
fast and blooms from little bulbs and is described as a naturalizer, but
hasn't been for me (unless you count naturalizing in containers.)
6. Allium haematochiton is practically evergreen if you water it but also
copes with summer dry. It doubles every year and blooms a long time. I've
had it start blooming last year in December, but then take a break and
bloom again in spring. It is blooming now.
7. Allium falcifolium--I have no luck with seed of this, but have a couple
that I manage to keep every year without gaining any. It is late to appear
and I always worry that it isn't coming back.
8. Allium serra is an early bloomer, pink, sort of pom pom like. I find
mine dwindle so start some more every now and then as they are easy from
seed. So I must not be doing something they like.
9. Allium uniflorum is native to my area where it is found growing in very
wet places. It is one of Alliums people often grow and it is easy for me too.
10. Allium praecox--I grew this one from seed and it is also one I think is
very pretty. I put a picture of it on the American Allium page.
11. Allium sanbornii-- I have grown two subspecies of this and Allium
jepsonii which is very similar. They aren't my favorites. Allium sanbornii
var. sanbornii is considered a rare plant and I don't always get it to
bloom. Once I did and it was very pretty. It is a late bloomer and I get
very conflicted about how much water it might need. It hasn't bloomed yet,
should I still be watering it? Will I kill it if I keep on? That kind of
thing. I think I may plant some of the non rare ones out and see how they
do when I can't hover over them.
12. Allium dichlamydeum--I've saved one of my favorites for last. This one
is native to my part of the world and I often see it blooming when I hike,
growing on the bluffs or in the rocks within sight of the Pacific Ocean. I
put a habitat picture on the wiki. I have found it very easy to grow and it
is a pretty color. The deer ate some I planted in my garden one year so
someone didn't tell them they aren't supposed to like Alliums.
One of my friends who has both gophers and deer has found that of all the
native bulbs I have given her and she has planted out the Alliums have
survived the predators the best.
Anyone with any tips for photographing these. I find many of my pictures
don't do them justice. I am interested in seeing if my husband does better
with the digital camera. Many of the ones I grow are sending up buds so
soon I'll find out.
Mary Sue
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