A couple of summers ago I was visiting a potter friend named Joan Gardiner who lives in the charming hamlet of Unison, Virginia. Looking out her kitchen window I saw a delightfully startling spectacle: a stand of mature Globemaster alliums, their puffy round seedheads painted Crayola red.
Joan explained that she’d found a can of red spray paint in her studio and decided to experiment with it in the garden. The result was magnificent.
I’m not suggesting that alliums need extra adornment to make a stellar appearance in your late spring to summer garden. The plant’s extraordinary structure makes it a surefire attention getter, painted or not.
Allium is the Latin word for garlic. Onions, chives, garlic and shallots are some of allium’s culinary varieties. While these make tasty additions to your kitchen, they don’t add much WOW to the flowerbed. Garden alliums are what you want if you’re looking for big floral impact. Now is the time to buy and plant them.
Alliums have so much to recommend them. First, they repel predators and insects by releasing a sulfur-based odor and bitter taste when stepped on or chewed. No need to worry about deer or rodents destroying them in your garden.
Second, they don’t care much about soil quality or water. Dry weather doesn’t deter them. They do prefer full sun and neutral pH soil. And third, they attract pollinators like honeybees and butterflies.
Their growing habit is another plus. While narcissi and tulips leave bedraggled foliage that looks messy long after the flower is spent, allium foliage dies away quickly, letting the seedheads bask in their summer glory. What other spring bulbs provide brilliant flowers, dramatic seedheads and no nasty lingering foliage?
But despite the short lives of their foliage, alliums manage to pack away enough nutrients in their bulbs to send up blossoms year after year.
Some of the best and biggest alliums include Globemaster, Gladiator and Purple Sensation. These produce blossoms as wide as 10 inches across on 3 to 4-foot hollow stems. The blooms are like rich purple explosions.
The drumstick allium is one of my favorites. Its flowerhead is an egg-shaped clump of tiny blossoms, with purple on top and green on the bottom.
The Van Engelen catalog (based in Bantam, Connecticut, this company sells a wide variety of spring bulbs as well as stunning indoor, winter-blooming amaryllis) lists more than a dozen huge alliums. “Summer Drummer” has 8-inch wide blossoms of star-shaped purple and white florets on green stems that mature to garnet. “Firmament” has flowers of “metallic merlot-purple florets with shimmering silver anthers.” Yes, please!
Clumping alliums are smaller and denser, generally from 4 inches to 14 inches in height and 2 inches to 3 inches wide blooms. These are best planted in groups to provide maximum effect.
Van Englelen offers 20 varieties, many of which are heirlooms dating from the 19th century and earlier. A. flavum is a golden variety that dates from 1759. A. azureum, “Blue of the Heavens,” dates from around 1830 and has “cornflower-blue orbs of starry florets with darker blue midveins.” That’s definitely on my list for this fall.
Bulbs can be planted any time up till the ground freezes. I suggest taking advantage of the recent rains and dig while the ground is relatively soft. It might seem like a lot of work right now, but come spring you will be so happy you made the effort!
Saturday through Monday, Tower Hill in Boylston will host its Fall Fest, a fun-filled event that will feature apple, honey and cider tasting, orchard and garden tours, and much more.
Family friendly activities include an alpaca exhibit, crafts, botanic face painting, horse-drawn hayrides featuring horses from Blue Star Equiculture Working Horse Sanctuary, and live music. There will also be demonstrations on fire pit building (Saturday, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.), edible wild mushrooms (Sunday, 1 p.m.), and more. Most activities are free with the price of admission.
For more information, go to: towerhillbg.org/fall-fest/
On Oct. 16, Kestrel Trust will host its 8th annual run, walk and shop festival on the West Street Common in Hadley.
The event will raise money to save local farmland. It will feature a 5k run on a flat route through scenic farmland, or a 2-miles walk along the Connecticut River. There will also be a farmers market, local beer from Valley Malt and live music. Commemorative 5k for Farmland pint glasses will be given to all those who pre-register. They will also be entered into a raffle for great local prizes.
Race day schedule: 9 to -10:45 a.m.: registration and number pick-up
11 a.m.: 5k race and 2-mile walk start
12:30 p.m.: Awards ceremony
For more information and to register, go to: kestreltrust.org.
Mickey Rathbun can be reached at foxglover8@gmail.com.