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Northumberland, United Kingdom

Last Autumn I planted 5 Allium Miami bulbs and 2 Nectaroscordum (Siculum Honey Lily) bulbs in the same pot. They were all brand new. The Honey Lily came beautifully, the Allium never turned up. What I don't know now is which is which? There are about 30 or 40 of the tiny ones and about 9 of the large ones. My thinking is the Allium are the tiny ones???




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possibly but they do produce smaller bulbs ie 3 instead of one large bulb. and Nectoscordum has been renamed as an allium just to add to the issue.
I am surprised none of the smaller alliums [they grow to 1m tall] showed their foliage.

I'd be tempted to put them in another area of the garden soil to allow them to grow on to flowering size.
buy fresh bulbs for next year.

21 Aug, 2019

 

I noticed this year that certain shops are selling Honey Lily as Alliums which is confusing, but the photos on the packs are exactly the same. I think I shall put the old ones separately in two old pots and buy new Honey Lily bulbs as the bees loved those best of all. I just can't understand how either 5 or 2 have turned into 30 to 40.

I like a bit of experimentation in the garden though so all is good!

22 Aug, 2019

 

The formation of all those bulbils is due to the regenerative nature of the basal plate [base of the allium] some cells can be switched on to become new bulbs. obviously they are tiny but over several years build up to a flowering bulb. when you think the basal plate has 100's of cells in it, it is not surprising how many can form. Gladioli do it too.

23 Aug, 2019

 

I replanted the bigger bulbs into old pots/troughs and shared the tiny ones between an old trough, and the border, so I'll see what happens over time. I've marked the pots clearly.

I always need lots of pots (even if empty for ages) to fill spaces at the back of the garden, where the wildlife area is, to deter the Sparrowhawk/neighbouring cats from landing easily. Sometimes I think I get more plants from supposedly 'empty' pots! Ha-ha!

Thank you Seaburngirl.

23 Aug, 2019

How do I say thanks?

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