"Jamie" jamievande@freenet.de wrote: >Although I've tried with the few "ball" type >Alliums, such as A. giganteum, A. jesdianum, >A. christoffii, A. schubertii and their possible >hybrids (Lucille Ball, Globemaster, hollandicum, >etc), I've never managed to set seed through >intrageneric pollination. I've found all the named >cultivars I have to be sterile. Of course, this is >a limited group! >I remember a wonderful article in the IBS BULBS >on A. flavum cultivars. That was my article entitled "The rainbow color genesis of Allium flavum ssp. tauricum" that appeared in IBS BULBS earlier this year. >Is anyone working with Allium? I have selected a good number of Allium hybrids, mostly of the rhizomatous types. I have also been selecting color forms of Allium flavum ssp. tauricum for quite a while, resulting in the huge color range which was the subject of my aforementioned article. While the "big ball" type of allium (section Melanocrommyum) are interesting and showy, they are actually not as useful in the garden as those species that grow all season long with handsome foliage clumps, such as the Rhizirideum section of the genus (those with bulbs attached to rhizomes). There is tremendous untapped potential in developing superior hybrids of summer/fall growing alliums. I have previously posted a number of Allium hybrid pictures to the PBS wiki. Mark McDonough Pepperell, Massachusetts, United States antennaria@aol.com "New England" USDA Zone 5 ============================================== >> web site under construction - http://www.plantbuzz.com/ << alliums, bulbs, penstemons, hardy hibiscus, western american alpines, iris, plants of all types!