Allium 2011

[McDonough]

A miscellany of Alliums to post.

The issue of harvesting seed on the late blooming alliums comes up sometimes. Some are starting to set seed pods, and depending on the year and the weather, it is sometimes possible to get some seed. In this photo we see some developing pods on Allium aff. thunbergii (probably A. sacculiferum) collected by Dan Hinkley.  If the pods are left on to mature, it is likely they'll succumb to soaking rain and snow, so they can be picked in the green and allowed to dry out inside to get some viable seed.




The very small form of Allium virgunculae that I showed in bud earlier finally opened its flowers, this shot taken Oct. 25, 2011... a tiny delight.




Allium thunbergii 'Ozawa' and white Allium thunbergii alba still going strong.




A seedling grown from Allium thunbergii 'Ozawa' has for the last 4-5 years proved to be a rather tall robust form of A. thunbergii.  This year it is flowering later than normal, still just mostly in bud with a few first florets opening.




Below... a seed-grown plant from Jim Jones' variegated form of Allium nutans shows variable amounts of variegation, some leaves nearly totally variegated, other leaves partially variegated, and many leaves all green.  The flowers are "uggo" (ugly) but I'm happy to have at least one of the seedlings grow on and show some level of strong variegation.




Last photo, I was sent bulbs from the Netherlands of an Allium simply called Allium 'Cameleon' (I am told, the European spelling of the word leaves out the "h" or "chameleon" as we spell it in the US.  This plant was reputedly an American species, but is actually a Mediterranean species; mostly likely A. trifoliatum of A. longanum.  The fact the foliage emerges in the fall and remains through the winter (and the broad hairy-ciliate edged leaves) 100% rule this out as an American species; it is most certainly one of the two species I mentioned.

[stephenb]

Great pictures, Mark. I particularly liked the virgunculae...

I was in Kew Gardens in London on 1st October, a day when record temperatures for the time of year were being recorded. It was over 30C that day. In the alpine house there were a couple of thunbergiis which were both still in bud. The first is "Ozoke", the other with no cultivar name. Both were pot grown:

[McDonough]

Stephen, I like the really grassy clump-forming one in the second photo, looks more like a virgunculae variety.  I used to have such a form, would like to rebuild my collection of these sweet little fall bloomers.  Need to refresh my memory of the recent revised taxonomy on the thunbergii-virgulculae clan (that I had posted on SRGC), here are some links:

Allium virgunculae var. kiiense, var. koshikiense (published 2009), var. yakushimense (published 1998), and the species pseudojaponicum, austrokyushuense, jump into the fray with thunbergii as well.

http://www.srgc.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=5766.msg170443#msg170443

http://www.srgc.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=5766.msg169576#msg169576

Map of Allium virgunculae varieties:
http://www.srgc.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=5766.msg169700#msg169700 

[RickR]

Allium thunbergii 'Ozawas' is finally in best bloom now.

           

[McDonough]

Allium thunbergii 'Ozawas' is finally in best bloom now.

Very nice Rick.  In your photos, the pedicels look dark charcoal color instead of green, which is particularly attractive!

[RickR]

Very nice Rick.  In your photos, the pedicels look dark charcoal color instead of green, which is particularly attractive!

A trait that occurs only with the onset of cold (freezing?) weather. But the stems are similarly colored, too.

[stephenb]

Nice onion, Rick! Notice that Ozoke from Kew which I posted above also has dark pedicels!

[McDonough]

Nice onion, Rick! Notice that Ozoke from Kew which I posted above also has dark pedicels!

Hmmm, I'll have to go look at my various thunbergii forms for pedicel color. Stephen, at first I didn't notice the reddish color to the A. thunbergii 'Ozawa' picture you posted.  By the way, just to keep the naming straight, the spelling 'Ozoke' is a name corruption for 'Ozawa' that's often encountered in cultivation... even at Kew

[Todd Boland]

I got this as a dwarf form of thunbergii but could it be virgunculae?

[McDonough]

I got this as a dwarf form of thunbergii but could it be virgunculae?

Very nice Todd, rather profuse flowering isn't it.  Well, the taxonomy on these little Japanese autumn blooming onions is something to wade through, check the links above for information on recently described species in the thunbergii-virgunculae alliance, and three varieties of Allium virgunculae, or use this link: http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=576.msg11906#msg11906
These link back to lengthy discussions on the SRGC forum.

I believe lots of the smaller "thunbergii" forms going around out there might in fact be one of the varieties of A. virgunculae... here's a photo link to A. virgunculae var. kiiense.
http://hanamist.sakura.ne.jp/flower/tansiyo/yuri/kiito.html

[deesen]

Just obtained seed of Allium platycaule the originals of which were a Jim Archibald collection under JCA 12988. Should I treat them as a winter or summer grower please?

[McDonough]

Just obtained seed of Allium platycaule the originals of which were a Jim Archibald collection under JCA 12988. Should I treat them as a winter or summer grower please?

Seed of most Western American Allium species requires cold stratification, I recommend sowing now, you should get germination in spring.  Allium platycaule is a spring growing/flowering onion, it goes dormant immediately after flowering and stay dormant for the rest of the year. Accordingly, can't get much growth out of these in a year, so it typically takes minimum 3-5 years for flowering.  Good luck, it's a worthwhile species to wait for.

[deesen]

Many thanks for that Mark.

[deesen]

A friend on mine in Germany has obtained seeds of Nothoscordum montividense ssp minorum and is seeking advice as to the best time to sow them. Can anyone help please?

[McDonough]

David, one of my favorite little bulbs, I only have one small windowsill where I overwinter some of these cute little yellow Nothoscordums.   

Nothoscordum montevidense and ssp. minarum are easy from seed.  Since it flowers twice a year, late fall to winter and again in spring, one can get seed in spring, and if indoor autumn blooms are hand pollinated, one can get late season seed too.  Mine are throwing up some blooms now, but I haven't bothered to pollinate them much less look at them, because I don't see them during the week (it's dark when I leave in the morning and dark when I get home). Seed sown, watered, and kept frost free (warm) germinates easily.