Allium is a decorative onion, belongs to the onion family. There are about five hundred species of plants. In the wild grows in the Northern Hemisphere. It tolerates drought, is winter hardy. The spectacular appearance allows you to use it to decorate areas.
Description
The plant has a specific aroma, many varieties are edible. The leaves are surrounded by children or solitary, the root is shortened.
Inflorescences are umbellate, in the form of a sphere or hemisphere. Collected in a narrowed bunch. Star-shaped flowers with six petals are in the shape of cups or bells.
Species and varieties
Popular varieties:
| View | Description | Flowering time |
| Giant | In height with human height. Violet spherical flowers, consisting of small star buds, have a diameter of up to 15 cm. | May-early June. |
| Round-headed | Inflorescences are pink or burgundy. Oval, circumference up to 3 cm. | The second half of the summer. |
| Pretty | Small purple flowers collected in umbrella-shaped inflorescences. | August. |
| Karatavsky | Peduncle immersed deep in the ground. The leaf plates are wide with a reddish or pink frame. The flowers are snow-white or purple. | June. |
| Gold | Flat inflorescences umbrellas with a circle of up to 7 cm yellow. Reminiscent of miniature lilies. | |
| Ostrovsky | The flowers are lilac-raspberry, resemble a pentagram. They have six petals. Three of them, located through one, are shorter. The leaves are elongated and thin, without a specific onion aroma. | |
| Christophe | Lilac flowers are star-shaped. Collected in large inflorescences, circumference up to 25 cm. Do not fade for 1.5 months. Fade, but do not fall, and harden and dry. | |
| Bowed | Leaf plates are flat, collected at the rhizome fan-shaped. The flowers are pinkish or snow-white on the legs, reaching 50 cm. | Mid august. |
| Schubert | Pedicels from 2 to 20 cm. Inflorescences are purple with greenish-pink flowers. | May-July. |
| Blue ceruleum | Violet-blue spherical inflorescences are located on an elongated pedicle. They have a diameter of 2-7 cm. | The end of spring is the beginning of summer. |
| Sicilian | Pale pink or milky bell flowers, inclined to the ground on straight legs. Bees make onion honey from pollen. | April May. |
| Pskemsky | The leaves are cylindrical in shape. 2-3 cm thick. Inflorescences are snow-white in the form of a hemisphere. | Early July. |
| Oblique (accelerated, mountain garlic) | Edible leaves and bulbs. Inflorescences are yellow with many stamens sticking out to the sides. | June July. |
| Roseum | Inflorescences-bells are large, snow-white, pale lavender. Diameter of flowers is up to 8 cm. For the winter, a transplant is made into a pot. The plant is brought into the room, because afraid of the cold. | May June. |
| Gladiator | In height up to one and a half meters. The lilac or violet inflorescence has a diameter of 25 cm. | June. It lasts 2 weeks. |
| Gigantum | Grows to 150 cm. Lilac inflorescences no more than 10 cm. | The end of spring is the beginning of summer. |
| Bulgarian | The flowers are burgundy white. In height up to 90 cm. | May June. |
| Amethyst | Red Mohican Perennial grows to 100 cm. Burgundy-white flowers 5-7 cm. | June July. |
| Forloc | Dark purple inflorescences 5-6 cm. In height up to 60 cm. | |
| Ivory Queen | The leaves are corrugated, elongated and wide. Grows up to 40 cm. | The end of May-June. |
| Summer Beauty | Inflorescences are gentle lavender. Slowly fade to creamy white. Do not give seeds. Keep their shape for several months. | July. |
| Aflatunsky | The bulb is conical with a sharp end, covered with grayish scales. The leaf plates are bluish-green, elongated, and ribbon-like. The plant is edible. | May June. |
| Bearish | Grows up to 40 cm. Inflorescences are umbrellas consisting of star-shaped snow-white flowers. | |
| Victorious | Reaches 70 cm. Flowers are white-green. |
Landing and care
Planting a plant and caring for it does not take much time. Onions love the sun; partial shade is also suitable for planting. High varieties (for example, siculum) should be planted in areas protected from the wind so that gusts do not break the stems. The plant will take root well in the measure of fertile, light soils. Allium needs good drainage. With stagnation, the bulbs begin to rot.
Purchase
You need to choose strong, large, fleshy bulbs of creamy tones, without dryness and mold. Planting material that has new shoots is not recommended.
Outdoor Landing Technology
Outdoor cultivation occurs in autumn or spring:
- The soil is being dug up. Humus and wood ash are added to enrich the substrate with potassium.
- Bulbs are planted in moistened pits. The depth of landing is equal to three sizes of the onion head. The distance between the holes is 30-50 cm.
- The soil is mulched.
Onions are grown and seedlings:
- seeds are sown in a substrate consisting of humus, peat and turf;
- sprouts dive;
- seedlings are periodically carried out to fresh air for hardening before planting in open ground;
- plants are transplanted to a permanent place after 2-2.5 months;
- moistened well for landing have a depth of 10 cm
Indoor Landing Technology
Indoor planting step by step:
- The pot is selected deep, with a large number of holes for drainage. Excess water will destroy the plant.
- A drainage layer of fine gravel, perlite is laid out on the bottom of the planter.
- Soil is poured on top, a bulb is planted in it.
- Planting material is sprinkled with a substrate, the soil is slightly compacted.
- The earth is being watered. If necessary, soil is added (a distance of 1.5-2 cm should remain to the top of the pot).
Care Features
When watering, you must adhere to the following recommendations:
- Stagnation and excess water is more harmful to the plant than its lack.
- Moderate watering is needed during the vegetative period. When leaves and inflorescences form.
- Watering is necessary. In dry weather more often. In rains - as the topsoil dries.
Rules for applying dressing:
- Feeding is carried out during the growing season. This helps the plant cope with increased stress.
- In the spring, they are fed with nitrogen-containing mixtures.
- In summer, mineral top dressing is recommended.
- In September, dry phosphorus-potash fertilizers are used. They prepare allium for the winter.
- In the cold season, it is mulched with humus, peat.
Breeding
Allium is propagated:
- bulbs;
- by seed;
- bulbs;
- division of the rhizome.
In the first case, it is not recommended to sow underdeveloped seed bolls. Otherwise, the plant will have a dull color. In this way, onions of almost any kind are bred. The disadvantage of this method is that the allium will bloom only in the third year at best.
With vegetative propagation, flowering is observed already in the first year. However, this method will not be able to breed all types of allium: many do not give “children”, not all have rhizomes suitable for division.
Some varieties of allium give bulbs. These are small bulbs located not on the ground, but on the top of the peduncle.
Diseases and Pests
Onions are affected by the following diseases and insects:
| Disease / Pest | Damage | Control measures |
| Peronosporosis | Blurry greenish spots appear on the foliage. A mycelium of a gray-violet hue is formed in the form of plaque. The green turns yellow, becomes brown, dries. | Ill foliage is going. The bushes are treated with purchased products (Bordeaux mixture, copper chloroxide, carcotide, ridomil). |
| Rust | In spring, orange plaques are observed on the greenery. After a while, red-yellow spores form. The foliage dries. | Affected leaves are destroyed. Onions are sprayed with preparations containing copper (copper chloride, Bordeaux mixture). |
| Smut | Dark gray stripes appear. Leaf plates and pedicels are curved. | |
| Heterosporosis | The leaves turn yellow, covered with a brown coating. The greens dry up, the yield deteriorates. | |
| Cercosporosis | Damage appears in early summer. On the leaves and stems, clear spots of a gray hue with a thin yellowish border are formed. Affected areas do not rot. Greens turn yellow and dry. | |
| Golden bronze | This is a large green insect with a bronze, golden tint. Reaches 14-20 mm. If you look at the photo, you can see the transverse white lines on the wings. Larvae are thick, snow-white, up to 60 mm in length. Pupa yellowish, formed in an earthen cocoon. Pests fly from May to the end of summer. | Beetles and larvae are collected. |
Use in landscape design
For the design of rock gardens and rocky slides, the following varieties are used:
- karatavsky;
- Pskemian;
- Summer Beauty.
Landscape parks make out with allium:
- Aflatunian
- victorious;
- gigantic;
- Bearish
- globmaster.
On the flower beds and borders in the landscape, a slime, an angular, a chisel, a chameleon aesthetically look. Neapolitan and pink decorative bow are used for distillation.
Large varieties are recommended to be planted throughout the flower garden (for example, Mount Everest). Small varieties should be placed in containers. Blooming alliums will decorate any land.
