Two years ago while canvassing a small nursery I came across several Allium for sale and purchased them. Two of these are in full bloom right now. One, Allium maximowiczii, is very decorative: it forms tight clumps of foliage somewhat in the style of a short version of chives. The foliage is nearly hidden now by the very numerous flowers. These are whitish – they look very white until you see them next to something really white. The scapes are only about six inches or so high, the umbels are about ¾ inch in diameter. From a distance they remind me of the clover inflorescences now spangling the lawn. I bought this as Allium maximowiczii album, but learned on the wiki that it is A. maximowiczii ssp. shibutsiense ‘Alba’. Now that I’ve written that name, a question arises. Shouldn’t it be ‘Album’, to agree in gender with Allium? The answer is perhaps not as obvious as it seems. If ‘Alba’ is a cultivar name, I don’t think it has to agree in gender. If it is part of a name subject to the international rules, it does. But which is it? Or maybe it does not matter. An IPNI search on the name shibutsiense turned up nothing in Allium; but IPNI does list an Allium maximowiczii f. leucanthum which might be my plant: the publication where the name was published seems to describe alpine flora of Japan. This post is really about the other one: Allium obliquum. I bought this because the tag said it had yellow flowers. When I got home, I checked Google images and was disappointed by what I found. So the plant sat around in its pot and didn’t get potted that year. I eventually relented, and I’m glad I did. It’s blooming now, and the flowers are, as expected, not a good yellow. They are a sort of chartreuse, in walnut-sized umbels. To my tastes the great thing about this plant is that it is a sort of miniature hard-neck garlic, a miniature ophioscorodon (I love that name). The developing scapes go through the same twisting, arching, coiling phase seen in the hard-necks. They have topped out at thirty-four inches. This is very decorative! Curious, I bit into a leaf today: lots of garlic taste there. I don’t have enough bulbs to eat them - yet. To think that I almost tossed this plant: you really have to see things for yourself. Suddenly this mini-rocambole is one of my favorite Allium. Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where the garden is full of dead and dying bulb foliage - and, I hope, fat and happy dormant bulbs. My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/