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NederlandsOver the last decades the ornamental Onion has become very popular. In the older days we were just dealing with a handful of Alliums, nowadays we count dozens. Not just because she is a nice garden flower, also the flower industry embraced her as a cut flower.
But still, in the eyes of many people the majority of the Allium look like each other. Here is a short guide to teach you a little bit about the Allium.
Among the purple blue Alliums, the Allium Early Emperor is the first one to show her flowers. This newly bred Allium blooms together with the late Tulips and the Camassias.
Shortly after Early Emperor the Allium Purple Sensation starts. Among the larger flowering Allium, the Purple Sensation is the most widely grown and the most affordable. Just after the spring flowering bulbs her blooming starts, and she has a slight disadvantage that het blooms do not last very long. But on the other end she produces nice balls with seed pods after the flowers fade.
After these two, it is already half of May, and three giant Alliums start to flower. It starts with Allium Globemaster, a phenomenal ornamental onion that blooms for weeks.
At the end of May, beginning of June Allium Ambassador starts to show colour, slightly darker and a little bit taller than the Globemaster.
If you are interested in a more special white ornamental onion you might want to try the Allium Mount Everest. She is one of the tallest Alliums and blooms half of May. Just like the Purple Sensation she is not very long lasting but does produce very nice balls full of seed buds.
Also, worth the try is Allium Red Mohican. For ornamental onions, her punky appearance really is something different.
Allium giganteum
For the last one, Allium giganteum, you have to wait till the end of July, some years even the beginning of August, but she certainly is worth the wait. Seeing her nicely shaped onion buds to open is fun. For weeks she is teasing by giving you the idea that she will bloom tomorrow. No, she is not in a hurry. Slow blooming is her motto. Once she is in flower she will bloom for weeks. Her ball shaped flowers will grow bigger every day.
From the inside new blossoms are starting to bloom every day and their stalks grow just a little bit longer than the previous blossoms. This, by the way, also happens with the Allium Globemaster and Ambassador. Because they refresh their flowers all the time, they are able to bloom for such a long period of time. And because of this they grow such gigantic flowers.
There are many more different shapes and colours. In the Fluwel web shop I offer a nice assortment. You are very welcome to have look, and I hope you will find something interesting.
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Best regards,
Carlos van der Veek
