Allium hybrids
Antennaria@aol.com (Wed, 12 Nov 2003 19:58:11 PST)

"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!