OREGON S GAY/LESBIAN/BI/TRANS NEWSMAGAZINE
JUNE 12 2009
41
VOICES
Pride of My Gorden? The Hoppy Family of Allium
I knew there was a reason I ordered that
box of different kinds of alliums from Brent
and Becky’s Bulbs (brentandbeckysbulbs.
com) last fall. The poor box sat there and sat
there, until the day before the first wave of
Snowpocalypse 2008 hit Portland. My part
ner had had enough waiting for me to plant
that box o’bulbs and there she was, in the cold
rain, planting tulips and alliums for me all
over the garden. Thankfully, she remembered
to plant them in uneven numbers. I may be a
lazy gardener, but that doesn’t keep me from
being aesthetically particular.
Her work has paid off. This spring, our
tulips were delectable. Swaths of black parrot
tulips lurked in the shadows, painted tulips
danced through the garden. But following
steadily on the tulips’ heels came the real stars
of this spring’s garden: the alliums.
Allium is a huge family and one you’re
familiar with even if you’re not a gardener:
Onion and garlic are both from the allium
family, along with leeks, chives and shallots.
I can’t imagine cooking without alliums; in
fact, they’re often referred to as the jewels
among vegetables.
But it’s the ornamental factor of alliums
that has cast me under their spell. If Dr. Seuss
created a flower, this would be it - a purple orb
atop a long, tall green stick. In the landscape,
they serve as punctuation marks in a sea of
new spring green foliage. Long-lasting, they
ar
THE
SASSY
GARDENER
by LeAnn Locher
hang out in the garden later than other deli
cate spring blooms. I imagine them perfect to
create a pattern or rhythm in a modern garden
seeking structure, and they’re quite at home in
a romantic cottage garden as well.
But honestly? I like them because they’re
just weird. They’re like that wacky aunt every
one loves but you don’t entirely know what
planet she’s on. (Wait. I think that’s me.) The
different varieties range from tight balls to
exploding balls to huge balls to small balls.
You see a theme here? Alliums are all about
the balls.
Allium giganteum is always a top pick: The
size of a softball and home to small purple
florets, it reaches 4 feet tall in a good year.
Pair it with a backdrop of a dark-leaved
smokebush for a dramatic display.
A looser and starry-eyed version is chris-
tophii. This is the allium with star-shaped-
florets. I’ve been known to gaze at mine for
lengthy periods of time, trying to better un
derstand how such is architecturally possible.
It gets about 2 feet tall, lasts for a good month
Allium christophh is an easy
shou/stopper to grow in the garden
at least, and is perfectly paired with hostas.
Bonus? These allium multiply. I once had
three; now we have at least five. Score!
But the real freak show of the alliums are
growing in my garden this year; Allium shu-
bertii is truly blowing me away. It looks like
a spaceship, with different lengths of stalks in
its flower poking out a foot or so in width.
Pinkish purple, it’s airy - but it seriously is
the size of a volleyball. That’s right - a pink
spaceship volleyball on a stick in my garden.
It only gets 1-2 feet tall, but I am so proud of
it, my heart swells.
Even when the alliums are done bloom
ing, you can still have fun with them. Let
their stalks dry up in the garden and don’t cut
their blooms off. Carefully spray paint them
with a surreal color of your choice - florescent
orange is a good one - and trip out visitors
who need to know about this rare and unusu
al plant. I’ve done it. It’s fun. Alliums never
let you take your garden too seriously, and we
can all do well with that.
L e A nn L ocher gardens in her North
Portland garden along with her partner, two
cats, one dog, and as many alliums as she can
manage. She's also the LeLo of lelonopo.com.
E verybody ^
G arden C enter
Hydroponics
Grow Lights
Garden Toots
CorneSOerhx
your neighborhood nursery
www. Cor n ell Far ms,.coin
503-292-9895
8212 SW Barnes Rd
Portland OR. 97225
Open Daily
9am - 6pm
CISTUS NURSERY
22711 NWGILLIHAN RD
SALME ISLAND, OR 97231
503.621.2233 www.cistus.com
open daily 10am to 5pm
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