Allium 2012

[Toole]

Taken today --in a small trough the diminitive Allium kurtzianum and close up.

Plus a couple of shots of an onion ,the name of which i should know   .

Cheers Dave.

[McDonough]

Nice ones Dave, A. kurtzianum is one of my favorites.  This thing would still be called A. olympicum if it wasn't for years of my persistent correction of the correct identity; a great little onion  for a trough.  The other is A. carinatum ssp. pulchellum, and easy to grow and commonly grown species, another of my favorites; it's like a rosy-purple counterpart to A. flavum.  Nice to see such lovely plants, we're in the deep freeze here.

Must dash off to work soon, but later I'll split off your post to start a new Allium 2012 topic

[Hoy]

Lovely onions, Dave.

When does they flower in the northern hemisphere? I am always looking for nice onions to grow at my summerhouse. Ideally they should tolerate some summer drought and flower in late June, July or early August

[McDonough]

Late last autumn (2011) seed of Allium ovalifolium (thanks Lori!) germinated.  Wasn't sure whether to overwinter them indoors or unpot and plunge the square soil lump "as is", into a position in the garden.  I chose the latter, and covered the area with wire mesh to keep squirrel digging at bay.  I'm so pleased that they started into growth early and are reaching for the warmth.  I have tried seed of this species at least half a dozen times before (including a few of my own seed from an ex Chen Yi form that is a weak grower and not a "good looker"), but never got germination.  Glad to get started with a form that I believe is more robust and much better looking

[McDonough]

About 5 years ago, I was given some seedlings from a variegated form of Allium nutans.  Some were all green, others had some variegation, while one was nearly totally white-leaved.  The most boldly variegated one was a weak grower and eventually died, but I do have one that shows some fairly strong variegation, and has finally got to a large enough size to start dividing.  Not sure if this clump is from just one seedling or several grown in together; the variegation is stronger on some leaves more than others.  The flowers are ugly, an insipid few-flowered affair, but the leaf variagation might prove useful for hybridization.

Taken today, 4-7-2012, Allium nutans "variegated form".




Along similar lines, Darrell Probst found a number of purple-striated leaf forms of Allium tricoccum in the woods of central Massachusetts, he shared a couple bulbs with me.  They just came up a couple days ago.

[Tony Willis]

Allium akaka in flower now. In the wild it is completely stemless but elongates in cultivation

[McDonough]

Allium akaka in flower now. In the wild it is completely stemless but elongates in cultivation

Tony, I have tried a number of times to grow this species, have not succeeded in getting them though more than a year of two (I grow all thse things outside).  I like the twisting foliage in your form. I see that your posted a second form on SRGC.  What is the source of your bulbs or seed?

I have always wondered about the name "akaka", what it the derivation, I can't find anything that equates to it in botanical terms.  Looking up "akaka", I learn that it is a Hawaiian word, and there is a famous waterfall in Hawaii named Akaka Falls.

[McDonough]

Another mystery was an Allium posted on the SRGC Forum, named by a nursery named Kwekerij De Schullhorn in the Netherlands.  The plant was labeled Allium 'Eos'.  When questioned about the name, he said is was a photo labeling mistake for Allium 'Cameleon' (apparently that is a French spelling of chameleon).  The story was, this was a plant from Wayne Roderick and that it was an American species.  I doubted that, because the plant had wide hairy leaves; no North American allium species has wide hairy leaves, or hairy leaves of any sort.  Some bulbs were generously shipped to me.

Initially I narrowed down the ID possibilities to A. longanum or A. trifoliatum, closely related species, both are Mediterranean species. Now that my plants are flowering in their second year, taking on the strong white-aging-pink color, I have passed it through the keys again, and now feel confident this is Allium trifoliatum.  The insistance that this must be an American species because it was sent from someone in America is a red herring, the plant characteristics speak for themselves.

I'm pleased to report that this autumn-leaf-sprouting Allium is hardy here, and this year coloring up nicely; it is a very good form of A. trifoliatum.  I believe it is important to establish this, as plants in the Netherlands are sometimes too easily named with a cultivar name and resgistered, but with no understanding about what the underlying species is.

Impressions of Allium trifoliatum 'Cameleon', notice the ants in photo #5, they seem glued to the nectar of this sweet scented onion.  The effect whereby thye white flowers variable age pink is delightful.






Related message history on SRGC:
It all starts here, where I start asking questions about a photo shown labeled as Allium 'Eos', then read the topic down:
http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=5164.msg153884#msg153884

http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=5164.msg202959#msg202959

http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=6685.msg208295#msg208295

[Hoy]

Mark, you have undertaken some detective work! Very handsome onions to.

[Madgardener]

Hoy,
I've been growing Allium kurtzianum for many years and find it does best in my unheated alpine house.

Very slow to increase and I nearly lost it a few years ago trying to grow it outside, it did not like the damp, wet winters.

It flowers for me usually in July.  The attached photo from last year was taken on 01/07/2011

[Hoy]

Hoy,
I've been growing Allium kurtzianum for many years and find it does best in my unheated alpine house.

Very slow to increase and I nearly lost it a few years ago trying to grow it outside, it did not like the damp, wet winters.

It flowers for me usually in July.  The attached photo from last year was taken on 01/07/2011

Thanks, Madgardener.

Then I will not try them at home but at my summerhouse where the climate is much better. - if I get hold of some seeds or bulbs!

[McDonough]

Mike, excellent patch of Allium kurtzianum, certainly one of the very best and most showy of dwarf Turkish Allium.  I don't find it particularly difficult to grow in the open garden, used to have nice patches of them, and they lasted for years.  But, they won't take being crowded out by other plants, and that is why I eventually lost most of them.

[Tony Willis]

Mark

I have three pots of the Allium akaka. The one shown earlier (pink coloured) is from my own seed which I obtained by crossing my two wild (own collection) plants from Eastern Turkey. The second in the pot is now in flower and is straw coloured.

The one shown attached here (straw coloured) was collected near Kars in 1995 and the other (pink coloured) which has not flowered at Ala dag somewhat earlier.

The two seedlings I have raised have produced one plant of each colour.

A point I would make is these plants in cultivation are quite out of character. In the wild they have prostrate ground hugging leaves and completely stemless flowers. They grow in open steppe and have very high light levels,something unknown here. A picture in the wild is shown in Phillips and Rix 'Bulbs'

I do not know the origin of the name.

They have had a moment of excitement and so seed should be available later if you would like some

[LucS]

A few species in the same group as A. akaka, all grown from seeds:
Allium breviscapum
Allium derderianum
Allium noeanum

[LucS]

Allium elburzense
Allium aff. elburzense
Allium nevskianum
Allium shelkovnikowii