Alliums

  • 54 Replies
  • 42789 Views
*

John

  • Hero Member
Alliums
« on: July 11, 2011, 08:11:05 PM »
Allium callimischon are autumn flowering onions which form their flowers in the spring but they stay as dormant buds through the hot dry summer until autumn triggers them back into growth. Allium callimischon subsp. callimischon is endemic to the western and southern parts of Greece with pale flowers and subtle markings. Allium callimischon subsp. haemostictum comes from Crete and south west Turkey. It has the same growth pattern and is very similar except it is distinctly marked with "blood spots" as it's subspecies name implies. Shown here in the second picture where the ovary is also dark.
There will be some variation throughout the distributiuon of these Alliums especially with subsp. callimischon as I have seen it in the wild.
« Last Edit: October 06, 2011, 08:53:48 AM by John »
John
Horticulturist, photographer, author, garden designer and plant breeder; MGS member and RHS committee member. I garden at home in SW London and also at work in South London.

*

John

  • Hero Member
Allium tardans
« Reply #1 on: July 12, 2011, 08:12:23 AM »
Allium tardans is an allium which even when in full flower all but the most eager eyed flower watcher would walk past. It blends into it's background of dry material when it flowers in autumn. It has the same flowering method as A. callimischon, the flower buds are formed in spring and wait till autumn to open. It is common on Crete and only seems to occur across the waters in the Karpathos island group. So it's a Greek endemic. It varies quite a lot in height but around 15 cm or more is normal though on the top of Afendis Kavousi in eastern Crete it was only 8 cm high.
The 1st picture is of a typical form and the 2nd of what I take to be the equivalent of an albino where I presume the colour comes from the remaining chlorophyll in the tepals (petals and sepals).
« Last Edit: August 20, 2011, 11:01:13 AM by Alisdair »
John
Horticulturist, photographer, author, garden designer and plant breeder; MGS member and RHS committee member. I garden at home in SW London and also at work in South London.

*

oron peri

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
    • http://www.greentours.co.uk/Leader/Oron-Peri/
    • Email
Re: Allium
« Reply #2 on: July 20, 2011, 02:31:50 PM »
John, I have merged both your posts to one subject: Allium
Garden Designer, Bulb man, Botanical tours guide.
Living and gardening in Tivon, Lower Galilee region, North Israel.
Min temp 5c Max 42c, around 450mm rain.

*

Alisdair

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
Allium telavivense
« Reply #3 on: August 01, 2011, 08:29:07 AM »
When Oron took us to the Poleg Dunes nature reserve near Tel-Aviv, on the MGS trip to Israel in March, one of the interesting plants we saw there was a large-flowered onion, Allium telavivense - a very local endemic, now rare in the wild, as the building of Tel-Aviv has now covered most of its former habitat:
[attachthumb=1]
It is in cultivation and may occasionally be available from specialist bulb dealers.
A New Zealand test of 30 different onion species found that A. telavivense - the only one of the 30 - seemed to be completely resistant to white rot, the bane of onion-growers (you can find an abstract of the scientific article here). So Oron, maybe you should do a little judicious crossing with a large-bulbed eating onion! (I think considering its large flowers A. telavivense itself has rather small bulbs, doesn't it?)
« Last Edit: March 24, 2012, 07:15:57 PM by Alisdair »
Alisdair Aird
Gardens in SE England (Sussex); also coastal Southern Greece, and (in a very small way) South West France; MGS member (and former president); vice chairman RHS Lily Group, past chairman Cyclamen Society

*

John

  • Hero Member
Re: Allium
« Reply #4 on: August 19, 2011, 07:26:17 PM »
Merge away! I think you will be doing quite a lot more merging.  Also many topics are straying onto other subjects which could become quite confusing.
John
Horticulturist, photographer, author, garden designer and plant breeder; MGS member and RHS committee member. I garden at home in SW London and also at work in South London.

*

John

  • Hero Member
Re: Allium
« Reply #5 on: August 20, 2011, 10:55:49 AM »
Perhaps you could also re-label the second one Allium tardans?
John
Horticulturist, photographer, author, garden designer and plant breeder; MGS member and RHS committee member. I garden at home in SW London and also at work in South London.

*

Alisdair

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
Re: Allium
« Reply #6 on: August 20, 2011, 11:01:51 AM »
Done! :D
Alisdair Aird
Gardens in SE England (Sussex); also coastal Southern Greece, and (in a very small way) South West France; MGS member (and former president); vice chairman RHS Lily Group, past chairman Cyclamen Society

*

fragman

  • Jr. Member
Allium tardiflorum
« Reply #7 on: September 28, 2011, 04:08:13 PM »
Allium tardiflorum is a rare endemic of Mt Carmel in north Israel. Surprisingly it blooms in autumn, like a few other related species in the eastern Mediterranean.
We grow this species in our "Shelter Garden for Endangered Plants". A project that enhance the need to protect plants in our dense little country.
Ori Fragman-Sapir
Jerusalem Botanical Gardens

*

Alisdair

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
Re: Allium tardiflorum
« Reply #8 on: September 28, 2011, 06:38:02 PM »
That spathe bract is rather wonderful!
Alisdair Aird
Gardens in SE England (Sussex); also coastal Southern Greece, and (in a very small way) South West France; MGS member (and former president); vice chairman RHS Lily Group, past chairman Cyclamen Society

ezeiza

  • Full Member
Re: Allium
« Reply #9 on: September 29, 2011, 02:49:31 AM »
Although well known, the following are easy in mild winters and hot summers

triquetrum
nigrum
roseum
neapolitanum
conmutatum
bourgaei
atroviolaceum
subhirsutum
sphaerocephalon

Those you are mentioning are certainly fascinating

*

John

  • Hero Member
Re: Allium
« Reply #10 on: October 06, 2011, 09:03:19 AM »
Do be careful with any Allium. Many can be terrible weeds almost impossible to eradicate. Some are prolific from bulbils in their inflorescence or from seed. In our case in our front garden here in London I introduced A. triquetrum which I though I could control by removing the seed heads. Needless to say I failed and it is everywhere. It produces copious little offsets underground too which makes it almost impossible to dig out. It has also escaped into the street where it looks quite nice around the base of the trees and lamp posts. SO YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
John
Horticulturist, photographer, author, garden designer and plant breeder; MGS member and RHS committee member. I garden at home in SW London and also at work in South London.

*

Alisdair

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
Re: Allium
« Reply #11 on: October 06, 2011, 10:22:41 AM »
John, you should have taken warning from the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act, which made it an offence to plant A. triquetrum anywhere in the wild in the UK!
Which alliums do people in mediterranean-climate areas (as opposed to the UK's mild climate) find invasive? It seems to me that they are much easier to keep under control there. In Greece we find that A. neapolitanum, a native there anyway, seeds itself around only very gently even if we encourage it. And our attempts to grow another native there in Greece, the beautiful A. roseum - which is counted as invasive in the UK - aren't very successful, though it does come up occasionally on its own.
Alisdair Aird
Gardens in SE England (Sussex); also coastal Southern Greece, and (in a very small way) South West France; MGS member (and former president); vice chairman RHS Lily Group, past chairman Cyclamen Society

*

JTh

  • Hero Member
    • Email
Re: Allium
« Reply #12 on: October 06, 2011, 07:23:07 PM »
I just can't imagine any garden plant becoming too prolific in my Greek garden, I am mostly struggling to keep anything I plant alive, sometimes I succed. The only plants I have more of than I like are Tribulus terrestris and wild oat, Avena fatua.
Retired veterinary surgeon by training with a PhD in parasitology,  but worked as a virologist since 1992.
Member of the MGS  since 2004. Gardening in Oslo and to a limited extent in Halkidiki, Greece.

*

Alisdair

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
Allium heldreichii
« Reply #13 on: October 06, 2011, 07:56:43 PM »
Another Greek endemic is Allium heldreichii, from northern Greece. It's quite a small one and looks rather like chives, but the bulbs are quite different, round and not clumping in the same way. This one was grown from seed, from a collection originally by Jimmy Persson for Goteborg Botanic Garden, from Mt Giona:
Alisdair Aird
Gardens in SE England (Sussex); also coastal Southern Greece, and (in a very small way) South West France; MGS member (and former president); vice chairman RHS Lily Group, past chairman Cyclamen Society

*

oron peri

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
    • http://www.greentours.co.uk/Leader/Oron-Peri/
    • Email
Allium chamaespathum, Allium autumnale
« Reply #14 on: October 13, 2011, 09:27:20 AM »
Two autumnal Alliums from the region in bloom today;
A. chamaespathum from E. Crete and the endemic A. autumnale from Cyprus
« Last Edit: March 24, 2012, 07:18:17 PM by Alisdair »
Garden Designer, Bulb man, Botanical tours guide.
Living and gardening in Tivon, Lower Galilee region, North Israel.
Min temp 5c Max 42c, around 450mm rain.