Tiny bulbs-A rubrovittatum

Antennaria@aol.com Antennaria@aol.com
Tue, 17 Feb 2004 18:56:36 PST
Lisa Flaum osthill@htc.net wrote:
>My A rubrovittatum, which came from Jane, 
>flowers at about 4" (10cm). It is fairly dry in 
>the summer-perhaps its stunted?

>Mark, it is growing outside in my rock garden, 
>a southfacing clay slope, amended with 
>chicken grit and horse manure.  I plan to try 
>some in a trough because they are easily 
>overlooked in the garden.

Lisa, from a follow-up message I understand you garden in central USA 
someplace.  Can you tell us whwre and what you climate and zone are, to give context 
to the fact you are able to grow Allium rubrovittatum outside.  Do you 
consider it reliably hardy for you?  How many winters has it survived outdoors?  I've 
tried it twice here in New England, and both times it didn't survive the 
winter, but maybe I haven't found the right spot for it.  It is a cute plant if 
you like true miniatures.  You've given me some clues on how I might treat it 
next time around.

By the way, in Seattle I grew a form of Allium parciflorum that was only 
about 2-3" tall... absolutely minute.  I no longer have that form, but in New 
England I grow a iron-clad hardy form of this Mediterranean that grows 12"-16" 
tall... a filmy mass of thready stems and a haze of tiny pinkish bugles in July.  
This form is large enough, and the bulbs prolific enough building into 
clumps, to make a noticeable display in mid-summer, whereas the smaller forms are 
only suitable to a trough or pot.

Mark McDonough Pepperell, Massachusetts, United States 
antennaria@aol.com "New England" USDA Zone 5
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