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interplanting with Alliums

thonycothonyco Posts: 2
in Plants
Hi all, I'm a farmer and have decided to plant some alliums in a 50'x3' bed, different varieties of Alliums, from small to large. But I would like to underplant them with some perennial flowering plants valuable as cut flowers to assure a longer presence of flowers throughout the season and to hide the yellowing leave of the alliums. I'm planting in rows, should I plant a later maturing plant in front of the allium rows? What is the actual technique and spacing of interplanting? How do I plant and avoid to interfere with each other? 

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 84,033
    edited October 2018
    Anyone got any ideas?

    I just grow them in an island bed with lots of perennials and a few large grasses ... all crammed in together. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 11,200
    I do the same Dove. I originally thought of perennial geraniums but not sure they'd make good cut flowers.
    Some of the daisy flowers perhaps?  Tricky one. Also alliums won't stay in neat rows, mine seed all over the place. 
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 29,178
    I grew alliums all over the place in my last garden and in amongst all sorts of perennials and roses but they weren't grown for cutting.

    If you want to grow alliums for cutting in with other flowers I would plant them far deeper than the standard advice of a hole with twice the depth of the bulb on top so that you don't disturb them when tending/planting/digging/hoeing the beds.

    Have a look at this website to see if you can find anything suitable for your situation and to pair with them - https://www.longfield-gardens.com/article/How-to-Design-a-Cutting-Garden 


    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 16,720
    I grow alliums in lines in the veg patch, planted six inch deep. I cut them for the house, leaving the ones in the flower bed alone. They tend to have forget me nots growing through them.
  • thonycothonyco Posts: 2
    Hi and thank you much for the reply. I’d love some specific instruction on ho to actually seed those forget me not: where do you actually seed the forget me not, in between rows of alliums? if so, how far are the rows?
    did you randomly broadcasted the seed in between the rows (if so, did you thin) or transplanted starts?
    or did you freely broadcasted seed all over the bed and let them grow wildly?I
    m so unexperienced about interplanting that I actually need more detailled information.
    Thank you
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