plant focus: alliums GLOBE TROTTERS Pick up pace in your garden by adding height and drama to borders with the spherical perfection of alliums S PHOTOGRAPHS CLIVE NICHOLS | WORDS SUSIE WHITE Allium giganteum with a backdrop of aquilegias - the perfect May partnership. May 2013 the english garden 85 plant focus: alliums ook closely at the head ‘From just one bulb of each,’ he of an allium and you explains, ‘I was later able to divide will see a dense matrix them. Chives are vigorous growers, of individual flowers and within four years I had enough forming a sculptural to send to the RHS, which was Lglobe. With mathematical precision, conducting trials. Much to my each flower is positioned to get surprise, both were given an Award the maximum sunlight. There is of Garden Merit.’ incredible beauty in the detail. Stand Inspired by culinary alliums, my back, and you see a ball of colour interest moved out into ornamental so vivid that the stalk seems to ones that I could intersperse among disappear, leaving the flowerhead Chesters’ exuberant flower borders. suspended among other plants. A few bulbs of Nectaroscordum My love of alliums began when siculum quickly self-seeded, their I ran Chesters Walled Garden in dusky apricot bells a delight; their Northumberland, which was famous quirky seedpods looking like for its herbs. I began collecting lopsided Disney castles. As cut cultivars of the onion family, as well flowers, they can last for a couple of as leaving garlic, leeks and chives to weeks. They even infiltrated my new flower for the bumblebees. Not far garden at Bridge Eal, hitching a ride away on Hadrian’s Wall were rare among hostas and sanguisorbas. examples of wild chives, so I grew At Bridge Eal, I’ve experimented these in the Roman Garden at with all sorts of allium combinations: Chesters. As well as using the leaves Allium sphaerocephalon with in cooking, I liked to tease out corncockle, or an A. cristophii the individual mauve florets for a emerging between the large white vibrantly pungent salad flavouring. flowers of Geranium himalayense Among the cultivars of chives are ‘Derrick Cook’. two gems: Allium schoenoprasum Gina Price, who designed Pettifers ‘Black Isle Blush’, a light mauve with Garden in Oxfordshire, uses lots of a pink centre; and ‘Pink Perfection’, alliums in her imaginative planting, a vibrant pink. Both originated at including the dainty Allium Poyntzfield Herb Nursery on the cernuum. ‘It’s a delicate little allium Each flower is positioned to get the Black Isle in Scotland, where Duncan which spreads easily,’ she says. ‘It Ross found groups of promising nods prettily and is suitable for the maximum amount of sunlight seedlings to isolate and grow on. top of a wall.’ FOUR CONTRASTING LOOKS 1 Because the leaves of alliums yellow and die spiky amethyst stars, dramatic even in decay, and early, they are best grown among perennials an evocative common name, Star of Persia. that hide their tatty foliage. The combination 3 Allium vineale ‘Hair’ With its tousled, just got of grasses and alliums is one of contrasts: the out of bed look, ‘Hair’ is a definite oddity. Behind flowers seem to explode and sparkle among the its bleached ends, it has a purple centre like some delicacy of wavy grasses. Here are four to try. mad re-growth. These muted colours mingle softly with the seedheads of autumn grasses; 1 Allium ‘Firmament’ The rich purple of this it is a fun curiosity. cultivar comes from one parent, A. atropurpureum; 4 Allium sphaerocephalon The drumstick allium the large globe flowerhead from the other, starts as a prickly green cone shape, its flowers A. cristophii. Impressive and gleaming with a flushing deep pink, before turning a dark wine- metallic sheen, ‘Firmament’ has long-lasting purple. With strong stems and compact heads, flowers suitable for cutting. it is delightful with the finer, shorter grasses: 2 Allium cristophii Huge globes on stout stems quaking grass, festucas or Stipa tenuissima. give this allium real presence in a border. It has A popular type. 86 the english garden May 2013 EXPERT CULTIVATION TIPS L Chives need dividing regularly or they become woody, according to Duncan Ross of Poyntzfield Herb Nursery. L In a clay soil, chives are more resistant to rust, he explains, ‘so as a way of preventing this from happening, we made a clay bed just for them. We double dug, bringing older clay to the surface. They will grow happily in sandy soil too though, especially given good airflow to prevent fungi.’ L Most alliums need a sunny, well-drained site that has not been manured, but some species such as Allium moly will do well in cool, damp borders. Plant the bulbs in autumn, Duncan suggests - their foliage emerges surprisingly early. The self-seeding habit of some PREVIOUS PAGE alliums is not always so welcome. Chive Allium ‘Allium carinatum subsp. pulchellum schoenoprasum is pretty but rampageous. I gave it ‘Pink Perfection’. to two friends because they admired CLOCKWISE it; they are now furious with me,’ FROM TOP says Gina, chuckling. A. schubertii; Another allium that is notorious A. ‘Globemaster’ for escaping from gardens is the has giant flowers; invasive wild garlic, A. triquetrum, A. carinatum still for sale through bulb companies, subsp. pulchellum but in some areas of Britain has can be invasive. become a problem species. Probably the best known of the ornamental alliums is Allium hollandicum ‘Purple Sensation’. Gina Price teams this up with Dictamnus albus var. purpureus in a dreamy, romantic colour scheme. HEAVY ‘Purple Sensation’ makes a lot of SELF leaf,’ she says, ‘It is a rich purple, S SEEDER but I cut the heads off when they go 2 3 4 May 2013 the english garden 87 plant focus: alliums WHERE TO BUY LCotswold Garden Flowers Cotswold Garden Flowers, Sands Lane, Badsey, Evesham WR11 7EZ. Tel: +44 (0)1386 833849. www.cgf.net LPoyntzfield Herb Nursery Black Isle, Ross & Cromarty IV7 8LX. Tel: +44 (0)1381 610352. www.poyntzfieldherbs.co.uk EASY- WHERE TO SEE TO-GROW OPTION LPettifers Garden Lower Wardington, Banbury, OX17 1RU. Tel: +44 (0)1295 750232. www.pettifers.com LRHS Garden Harlow Carr Crag Lane, Harrogate HG3 1QB. Tel: 0845 2658070. www.rhs.org.uk over, as they make the border look gloomy.’ Not all alliums are robust, and Gina finds that she does need to replace the white-flowered A. stipitatum ‘Mount Everest’ from time to time. Pure white and 1.2m tall, it has great stature. She finds that A. giganteum also peters out, but there is one cultivar that really stands out and for her Long a stalwart of cottage gardens, Allium moly has golden it is the best. ‘I bought Allium ‘Globemaster’ from Bob Brown yellow flowers and is delightful planted in drifts at Cotswold Garden Flowers, and from one bulb I got 30,’ she explains. ‘It’s huge, has good leaves CLOCKWISE schubertii, a stocky firework of a pretty stunning, and is certainly and it dies back well. It is fantastic.’ FROM TOP plant for the front of a border. a way of attracting bees and The stately spheres of ‘Globemaster’ Allium hollandicum Like all alliums, it teams up very beneficial insects to the garden. are formed by dark-violet, six- ‘Purple Sensation’ well with low-growing, lime-green Not all alliums are in the white pointed stars. The seedheads are planted with Alchemilla mollis. to purple colour range. Long a also magnificent when dried; Dictamnus albus One of my favourites is Allium stalwart of cottage gardens, Allium without the flowers you can really var. purpureus; the cristophii, a plant I originally knew moly has golden yellow flowers admire their structure. yellow A. moly; as A. albopilosum; this referred to and is delightful. It will self-seed at The way that all these individual A. ‘Firmament’; the fine white hairs on the edges of the bottom of hedges or shrubs, a florets make up the whole ball tall and striking; the leaves. At Bridge Eal, I have bright splash of sunshine in light makes these bulbs so fascinating. A. ‘Mount Everest’. used it to edge either side of the shade. The effect is naturalistic and There is a curious allium that looks path that leads to the greenhouse. very different in tone from the as though two have been put Coming from Iran, A. cristophii pompom splendour of the grander together, one inside the other. It is appreciates our well-drained cultivars. From informal to formal, made up of male and female Northumberland valley soil. from traditional to prairie, it is florets; the female being the centre The effect of a double line of the ability of alliums to gel with ball, with the male flowers seeming amethyst globes in a border with differing planting styles that makes to explode out of it. This is Allium skirts of pale purple catmint is them so appealing.U 88 the english garden May 2013.