ALLIUM PLANTING
HERE ARE SOME RESOURCES TO GUIDE YOUR PLANTING DESIGN
- Like many bulbs, alliums hate "wet feet" Make sure your planting spot has good drainage.
- Plant them when the nights are regularly below 45 degrees, before a hard frost (by mid-November)
- For large bulbs, set the root side down, with the pointy end up. Small ones aren’t as fussy.
- Get the planting depth right. (6 inches for large; 4 inches for small) If you plant your bulbs too deep, they may not have enough energy to make it to the soil's surface. If you plant them too shallow, the blooms may topple over when they reach their full height.
- Get the spacing right. Large bulbs: plant 9 per square foot or about ~6 inches apart; smaller bulbs should be spaced 3-4 inches apart.
- This short video may help.
- Alliums are best interplanted with other perennials, because basal foliage can fade before bloom, you want to enjoy the dried blooms that persist after the foliage has passed.
- For detailed information on the types you've purchased, follow this link and search for the exact name (say, "Allium Globemaster"). Exception: "His Excellency" is not described at John Scheepers. Try this link.
- The following graphics provide visual guides. Use the height graphic to imagine where your variety would fit, if not pictured. On the bloom time / plant color graphic, Summer Drummer would be "off the chart" in August and early September. It is ~ 5 feet tall.
Latin for garlic, the flowering onions are available in many heights and sizes. They are rabbit-, rodent- and deer-resistant, and are seldom affected by disease. Adored by bees, butterflies and pollinators, allium extend the spring flowering season with bold, dramatic color and statuesque garden architecture. They are also valuable cut and dried flowers. Most alliums prefer full sun, and create dramatic effects by rising above lower-growing perennials and shrubs. And, because they can be interplanted among other species, they have minimal space requirements.