We plant edible alliums in the autumn in the Pacific Northwest so they grow slowly all winter and are ready the next summer, out of the ground and dried in the sun before they bloom, with the soil composted again and ready for the autumn and over-winter veggie crops (crucifers, chard, mustard greens, etc.) You can plant edible alliums in early spring as well to harvest later in the year ... advantage of their preference for cool mild climate. You really see the shorter response time in old variety leeks, grown from seed and planted very early in the spring ... they can respond like annuals if you get a sudden warm spell in March. They go to flower before they really develop that plump stem we rely on for eating... which is why veggie gardeners feed leeks with a nitrogen rich fertilizer in early spring: it suppresses the annualizing response of flowering and encourages more green growth. Yet we rely on that flowering response in garlic bulbs... the scapes are an early "2nd harvest" so valued in European cuisine. I've found growing edible onions and leeks from seed can be frustrating as many varieties have very low fertility due to the long practice of cloning rather than planting from seed ... so more that than short storage life. Don't know about fertility rates in ornamentals. Elephant garlic is actually a type of leek. Jo Canning Vancouver Island -----Original Message----- From: pbs <pbs-bounces@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> On Behalf Of Jack and Val Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2018 6:22 AM To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> Subject: Re: [pbs] Allium seed The onions that we eat are biennials, I believe, and should flower the second year. Over wintering often results in making the period to flowering shorter. I've also been told that these seeds are only viable for about 1 year. The North American Rock Garden Society lists many ornamental alliums in its seed exchange. By the way, one of the gardens at UC Davis uses elephant garlic as a flowering plant. Val California in the Sierra Foothills. Zone 8 On Jun 12, 2018, at 3:59 AM, David Pilling <david@davidpilling.com> wrote: > Hi, > > On 12/06/2018 04:38, Linda M Foulis wrote: >> I'm looking for seed of the more common alliums. Allium obliquum is >> first on my list of wants. My seed was too old and nothing germinated sadly. >> I'm also looking for A. flavum, A. karataviense, A. oreophilum, A. >> paniculatum, and A. sphaerocephalon. > > It is possible to grow onions from seed and get a crop inside six months - I wonder if any Alliums can be flowered that quickly. > > I grew Allium cristophii from seed and it took of the order of five years. > > > > > -- > David Pilling > http://www.davidpilling.com/ > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… --- This email has been checked for viruses by AVG. https://www.avg.com/ _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/…