{"id":8104,"date":"2015-10-19T12:00:59","date_gmt":"2015-10-19T16:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=8104"},"modified":"2015-10-14T10:45:37","modified_gmt":"2015-10-14T14:45:37","slug":"add-alliums-in-your-spring-flower-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2015\/10\/19\/add-alliums-in-your-spring-flower-garden\/","title":{"rendered":"Add Alliums In Your Spring Flower Garden"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ornamental<\/a>

Ornamental onion in spring garden<\/p><\/div>\n

\"German<\/a>

German chives (A. lusitanicum) at Kingwood Center, Mansfield, Ohio<\/p><\/div>\n

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Ornamental alliums, members of the onion family (Amaryllidaceae), produce flowers that are uniquely ball shaped\u00a0and stand\u00a0atop long, graceful stems.\u00a0Young children\u00a0marvel about\u00a0the lollipop or\u00a0stargazing blooms. Depending on species, alliums\u00a0come in many colors (white, yellow, pink, purple, blue), shapes (round, oval, cascading), and sizes (5 inches to 5 feet tall).<\/p>\n

Most alliums bloom from late spring\u00a0to early summer. They bridge the gap between spring bulbs and summer flowering perennials. Most\u00a0grow well in containers, either planted alone or mixed with other plants. Blooms attract bees and butterflies and are terrific as cut flowers.<\/p>\n

According to size, the short\u00a0alliums include: A. flavum<\/em>, A. karataviense<\/em>, A. sikkimense<\/em>, and A. schubertii<\/em>. They fit well in rock gardens or\u00a0along garden paths. For a mixed perennial border, choose intermediate 2-3 feet tall cultivars with 4-6 inch diameter spherical blooms:\u00a0\u2018Purple Sensation\u2019,\u00a0‘Gladiator’, and \u2018Mount Everest\u2019.<\/p>\n

Giant flowering types with stunning 8-10 inch diameter stargazing globes include: Stars of Persia and\u00a0‘Globemaster\u2019.\u00a0A little different are the\u00a0shorter growing, egg-shaped flowering types of\u00a0German chives (A. lusitanicum<\/em>), drumstick alliums (A. sphaerocephalon<\/em>) and fragrant Chinese chives (A. tuberosum<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Ornamental alliums are very easy to grow.\u00a0Just plant them in the fall at the same time that you set tulips, daffodils and other spring flowering gems. Most alliums thrive in zones 4-8 and bloom year after year. Flowers are long-lasting both in the garden and in bouquets. When flower heads lose their color, the seed heads continue looking good for a month or more. Remove flower heads before seeds drop to\u00a0avoid creating\u00a0a weedy mess.<\/p>\n

Alliums are critter-proof. Deer, voles, chipmunks and squirrels do not eat them. Harmful insects don\u2019t bother them, and flowers are frequented by bees and butterflies for their nectar.\u00a0Alliums are also disease free.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

              Ornamental alliums, members of the onion family (Amaryllidaceae), produce flowers that are uniquely ball shaped\u00a0and stand\u00a0atop long, graceful stems.\u00a0Young children\u00a0marvel about\u00a0the lollipop or\u00a0stargazing blooms. Depending on species, alliums\u00a0come in many colors (white, yellow, pink, purple, blue), shapes (round, oval, cascading), and sizes (5 inches to 5 feet tall). […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,1117,1218,747,1226,749,710,521,778,674,806,1138,626,602,774,625,843,812,777,630,646,455],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8104"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8104"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8144,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8104\/revisions\/8144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}