Globe of Destiny - Allium ssp.

The onion is a largely misunderstood creature. He's been given a pretty bad reputation for making wimpy cooks cry and for being a cheap vegetable to use in watery soups. But this culinary legacy isn't the only use or type of onion, nor do you need to have a veggie plot to grow 'em. Behold, the wonderous floating universe of the ornamental onion.



There are literally hundreds (and hundreds and hundreds...)of different Allium species, including the onions and garlic we're used to eating. The most common of these is the bulbousy globe-formed Allium, which forms a nearly perfect sphere in loads of colors. Because there are so many of these guys to choose from, you can find tiny Allium that will form a flower around 3-4" up to Allium that can be feet across. They're massive. And massive is impressive. And impressive is awesome. And Awesome is massive. And massive is.... Imagine having huge floating colorful globes in clumps creating little solar systems throughout your garden man-scape. A really motivated gardener could create a celestial simulation garden, using large Allium for planets, and small Allium as moons. Center the whole thing around a fire pit, and dang; killer garden idea.



An Allium is a bulb, and needs to be planted in the fall to bloom the next spring. This makes them fall bulbs. Now this is tricky, so don't drift off. Fall bulbs bloom in the spring; Spring bulbs bloom in the fall. The way we refer to them has to do with their planting time, rather than their blooming time. This is easy to screw up, but there's always Google to help you out. Because these are fall bulbs, they can be left underground all year. Fall bulbs (like tulips, daffodils, crocus, hyacinth, etc...) need a long cold spell to convince them it's time to wake up and bloom again. Spring bulbs are usually not hardy enough to let 'em hang out outside all winter, and will need to be dug up at the end of the season to store someplace warmer. But that's neither here nor there. The main thing to remember, is plant in fall, and watch the planets align.



A typical Allium reaches a few inches to a few feet in height. Naturally, the larger the bulb, the larger the bloom will be. Keep this in mind when planting them in the fall. If you put tall Allium plants right in the front of your garden edge, it might look kinda stupid. Put 'em back a few feet and put something smaller in front to hide it's feet. This way, it'll appear to just sort of rise out of nowhere, and will look much better. Give your bulbs plenty of water, and they definitely appreciate sufficient sun. These are also hardy pretty much everywhere, so you can plant 'em up and forget 'em.




photo credit:
1] http://www.pfaf.org/Admin/PlantImages/AlliumGiganteum.jpg
2]http://rheadavinci.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Solar-System.jpg
3]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qHwX9zAsufM/SoSYCPrmGpI/AAAAAAAAAhQ/ngrUke_ZZfE/s320/allium.JPG
4] http://www.adrbulbs.com/_ccLib/image/plants/DETA-381.jpg