Alliums - Common as muck? ;o)

g.king

Ok, here goes nothing.....

As much as a like alliums, it does seem that every gardener and every garden across the land has alliums.

Are they the current "in thing" that everyone simply has to have, or is it a case of you can never have enough of a good thing?

I'm relatively new to gardening, having built up an interest over the past 2 or 3 years, so I might be asking a question that should not be asked!

I believe that some flowers come in and go out of fashion over time. Maybe the "commonness" of the allium will see it fall from grace.

  

Dirty Harry

These and biennials are just too important not to have for early summer colour IMO. They're coming in to strong flowering when there can be a bit of a lull in the garden otherwise.

There are so many varieties too.

fidgetbones

They fill the gap between the tulips finishing and the annuals starting to flower.  They look lovely with forgetmenots underneath.

Fire

All sorts of bees adore globe alliums. That's a good enough reason to grow them.

Daisies are common as muck; Few things are more beautiful.

Inglezinho

Grow the common garlic in a pot. They have pretty white flowers, which are edible and garlic flavoured. What more could you want? If you have a shady wooded area, native wild garlic is nearly as good as snowdrops. You can put the leaves in salads. Good luck!

Loxley

They're beautiful in their own right, they flower at a useful time of year between spring bulbs and the main flush of perennials (which they can happily share space with), and they're CHEAP so you can plant loads. I can't see them going out of fashion any time soon.

edhelka

I think they are in now. Featured in most of the designer gardens and modern plantings.

I can't decide if I like them or not. I certainly like the smaller ones. The fancy big ones, not so much. The foliage is ugly and hard to hide, the flower heads can be lost to weather, there are fewer of them every year and they are expensive.
I think there are more reliable and nicer May/June flowering plants.
On the other hand, there is nothing similar in form. I can see their use in garden design/planting schemes.

Perki

Alliums are great plants I wouldn't be without them .

Elfer

Didn't realise Alliums were so popular. None of our neighbours, friends or family have it. It's not a plant you see in supermarkets. Councils or commercial sites don't use them. It's not a plant landscapers use for new developments. It's not your typical cottage garden plant (according to gardeners world top 12 key cottage garden plants). It's not typically used in a small urban garden or low maintenance garden or rockery.

So one has to wonder on what basis you figured it's common as much!

Nanny Beach

I love my aliums,they aren't common as muck where I live. There is one bungalow in our road that has them in the front garden. You might argue daffodils are as common as muck,they look awful once they've flowered and you have to poke up with 6 weeks of their tatty leaves.

Butterfly66

I love alliums but they don’t like my garden, only sphaerocephalon comes back year on year. I think their popularity is down to the Chelsea Flower Show, they seemed to be in every show garden for a few years so we’re widely seen.