Urban Landscape, Native Landscape: Allium in the Cascadia Garden

Friday, June 10, 2011

Allium in the Cascadia Garden

Allium 'Globemaster' May 2009

Allium karataviense May 2010

Allium cernuum June 2009

Allium cristophii June 2010

Allium unifolium June 2009

I love Allium in my garden in Seattle. I got my 1st Allium bulbs in 1995 from John Scheepers, Inc. They were Allium karataviense & Allium neapolitanum. The Allium neapolitanum soon became a thick mass of foliage with no blooms. Allium karativiense slowly spread through the garden, with & without my help. It has beautiful foliage & pretty flowers. Allium foliage tends to dry up as the flowers begin to open. Next up was Allium christophii, which remains my favorite. The flowers heads are huge, the color stunning. Then came the impressive Allium 'Globemaster' with large, dense flower heads on tall stems. Nectaroscordum siculum is an interesting Allium relative with large, nodding bells. The other Allium I like, but don't love. I can see that Allium cernuum would easily spread to every sunny inch of the garden. Now I cut off the small flower heads before they set seed. I've included the bloom times I've observed in my garden. Allium require no care & very little water.

List of Allium in the Cascadia Garden (with bloom times)
Allium aflatunense 5-08-10, 5-18-09, 5-18-08
Allium cernuum 6-12-09
Allium cristophii 5-16-10, 5-26-09, 5-25-08
Allium ‘Globemaster’ 5-04-10, 5-18-09, 5-18-08
Allium karataviense 5-01-10, 5-09-09, 5-10-08
Allium neapolitanum
Allium nigrum
Allium schubertii 5-22-10, 5-23-09, 5-25-08
Allium senescens 9-05-10, 9-12-08
Allium taquetii 7-02-08
Allium unifolium 5-27-10, 5-30-09, 5-25-08
Nectaroscordum siculum (formerly Allium bulgaricum) 5-07-10, 5-20-09, 5-22-08

3 comments:

Adiante said...: I didn't Know it was so many allium ! Flowers are graphic ...; June 10, 2011 at 12:53 PM
Unknown said...: Allium may be the most photogenic plant on the planet . . . or maybe agave . . . hmmm; June 14, 2011 at 11:48 AM
The Sproutling said...: Allium christophii are my favourite Alliums too, although A. schubertii is definitely a contender too. Lovely pics!; June 28, 2011 at 1:46 PM

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About This Blog

This blog began in 2008 as Metropolitan Gardens to provide information on gardening in Seattle & places like it. Click on Gardening in Cascadia. The blog expanded to include Parks P-Patches Public Gardens in the US, Canada & Europe. Then Nature was added. (The difference between nature & gardens is intent. Nature happens. Gardens are planned.) Many recent posts are not about Seattle, or even Cascadia. They are Urban Landscape: streetscape & architecture. Cascadia is the region including the Cascade Mountains of Washington & Oregon. If you want to contact the blogger, leave a message in comments. Comments are moderated & private messages will not be posted.

Our Land & Climate

The city of Seattle rests between 2 bodies of water: Puget Sound & Lake Washington. Puget Sound is a substantial part of the Salish Sea & a very small part of the Pacific Ocean. The Salish Sea is set apart from the Pacific by the Olympic Peninsula in the state of Washington & Vancouver Island in the province of British Columbia. The dense, wet clouds of the Pacific Ocean travel as far as the Cascade Mountains, near the Salish Sea & not very far from the ocean. East of the Cascades lies the desert of the Columbia Basin. The moist, temperate climate of Seattle extends south to northern California & north to southeastern Alaska. The Pacific Northwest Coast from San Francisco Bay to Cook Inlet shares a flora dominated by evergreen coniferous forest. The central portion, west of the Cascade Mountains, is called Cascadia. The climate is cool & wet from fall to spring, warm & dry in summer. The Olympic Mountains block Seattle from much of the Pacific rainfall. Seattle is drier than the Atlantic coast of North America & northern Europe, cooler in summer & warmer in winter. It lies near the latitude of Paris & Quebec City.