An Onion Grows In Kinderhook

It might have been a dream, but I think I remember an old Jeopardy! episode with the category “Alimentary Alliums.”  In it, Alex asks, “This rare member of the onion family is found on sea cliffs along coastal Cornwall and Dorset” and a contestant volunteers “What is Babington’s Leek?”  Given the scores of edible members in the Allium tribe, an entire Jeopardy game could be dedicated to uncovering the fascinating details of onions, shallots, leeks and garlic.  And let’s not forget chives, Allium schoenoprasum, a plant which taught me that some alliums also have beautiful flowers.

And that is what I’m thinking about today, onions grown not for their culinary usefulness but for their value as “eye candy,” which I call “ornamental alliums.”  Last weekend, I biked through lovely Mills Park in Kinderhook, where a large floral display including perennial blue flax, white narcissus and magenta alliums got me to pull over for a closer look.  Unfortunately, my firsthand knowledge of ornamental alliums is slight, so I won’t be participating in onion-themed Jeopardy! anytime soon.  I therefore won’t hazard a guess as to exactly which allium grows in Kinderhook, but I must say they were impressive.

Many ornamental alliums are described as a large ball of small star-shaped flowers in shades of lavender, magenta, purple or violet.  These round “umbels” are borne on long, thin green stems, with just a few often non-descript leaves at the base.  Allium hollandicum, sometimes called the Persian onion, is a typical of these, growing to between one-and-a-half and three feet tall.  The variety ‘Purple Sensation’ has darker flowers and has earned an Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society in the United Kingdom.  Allium ‘Globemaster’ is a hybrid cross between A. christophii and A. macleanii and is sterile, so it doesn’t spread promiscuously, and grows stems between three and four feet tall with a lavender sphere on top.  Allium giganteum, which unsurprisingly is called the giant allium, boasts softball-sized purple flower clusters on towering stems of five feet.  Despite its grand size, sources say it doesn’t need staking.  While these large-type alliums are individually impressive, one solo plant looks silly, so garden designers say it is best to plant them in groups of at least five to seven. 

More variations abound.  For blue globes of flowers, try Allium caeruleum, which grows to two feet.  Small, egg-shaped purple flower heads on very thin stems characterize drumstick allium (Allium sphaerocephalon).   Turkistan onion (Allium karataviense) has fat, attractive leaves, floral globes of pale pink, and grows only a foot tall.  Lady’s Leek (Allium cernuum) boasts delicate, open flower sprays of white, pink or lilac and, like most ornamental alliums, needs well-drained soil and not wet feet.    Tumbleweed onion, Allium schubertii, grows about two feet high and has a loose sphere of lavender flowers of varying lengths, giving it the bizarre appearance of a firework or space alien.  It also makes a good dried flower.  There are dozens more, providing an ornamental onion for every taste.    

They've Got You Covered

I believe it was Ben Franklin’s gardener who said only three things are certain – taxes, death and weeds -  and we’ll all be pushing up the latter after death.  Abetting weeds is not a comforting thought, so after I’m gone, I hope to be fostering groundcover.  These low-growing plants, often spreading by stolons or rhizomes, can successfully hold the soil in place, conserve soil moisture, increase organic matter and battle weeds – all things I’ve spent a gardening lifetime striving toward.

Let me dispense with some obvious choices first.  Myrtle (Vinca minor) is tough but can get invasive; same for lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis) and carpet bugle (Ajuga), which often ends up in the lawn.  Don’t plant goutweed (Aegopodium podagraria) unless you want only goutweed, everywhere.  Pachysandra spreads politely but effectively, making a virtually foolproof evergreen carpet.  At least in my garden, it gets high praise.

For partial shade, barrenworts (Epimedium species) can’t be beat.  Their patches of heart-shaped leaves spread slowly, with tiny white, yellow or red flowers in early spring.  Wild blue phlox (Phlox divaricata) is a native woodland wonder, with pale blue flowers over a creeping mat of foliage.  The flowers of lungwort (Pulmonaria species) are deeper blue, and the green foliage is splattered with silvery spots.  Thought to cure pulmonary diseases in ancient days, its common name is no marketing asset to today’s garden center industry.  Sweet woodruff (Galium oderatum) has a more cheerful moniker and features tiny white flowers and whorled foliage all on a plant less than six inches tall.  It is said to the basis for Maitrank, the German wine traditionally imbibed on May 1.  Favorites for foliage of similar stature are the trans-oceanic cousins, European wild ginger (Asarum europaeum), with shiny green, kidney-shaped leaves, and Canadian wild ginger (A. canadensis), with a matte finish.  The tiny purplish flowers are so low only the slugs (their pollinators) and extremely curious gardeners can even locate them.  I’ll finish with the wee-est of all, Kenilworth ivy (Cymbalaria muralis), a lilac-flowered crack-filler which used to cover our old brick steps before the mason made them safe again.  It now resides on the greenhouse floor, where rules of horticultural sanitation say it must not remain, although pulling it out is as heartless as throwing an old dog off the sofa.

Need something taller?  Carex morrowii ‘Ice Dances’ looks like a spider plant, with its grass-like leaves edged in white, and makes a mass 18 inches tall.  From the same genus, Carex ‘Blue Zinger’ spreads faster but is a plain, dark green.  At two feet tall, Variegated Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum odoratum ‘Variegatum’) is lovely, with arching stems, pendant flowers and green-and-white leaves all on a tough plant.

In sun, low growing sedums, such as Sedum kamtschaticum, S. acre and S. reflexum survive in the worst soil and provide textural diversity with few maintenance needs.  Similarly rugged is big-root geranium (Geranium macrorrhizum), with pink spring flowers, evergreen foliage and a spicy fragrance.  Of course, don’t forget lamb’s-ear, thyme, catmint, moss phlox – I’ll be an old man before I can list them all.