Episode 15: Alliums with Jackie Currie

Alliums have to be one of our most well-loved, contemporary perennials. They’re relatively pest and disease free, pollinators love them, they look good in flower and also in skeletonised form during the winter. However, if you thought growing alliums was as straightforward as bunging some bulbs in the ground and enjoying them year after year, you may be surprised…

After losing some alliums in my own garden, I was determined to find out a bit more about what these plants need to succeed in the garden. Jackie Currie has held the National Collection of Alliums for the past 4 years and I surmised that if anyone could help me on my quest to make my alliums happy, she could.

Since she started studying alliums in earnest, Jackie has learned many things that might surprise even the most seasoned grower and it appears she may be re-writing the rule book on alliums as we know it. Listen to the episode to find out which alliums truly act as perennials, coming back year after year. Also find out which alliums to treat as annuals, what to feed them, where to grow them and the answers to many other questions about alliums you didn’t even realise you should be asking!

 

Points of interest;

Ideal soil conditions for alliums 

Alliums that are easy to grow

Alliums that are tricky

Potential diseases 

What to plant them with

Feeding

How to propagate them

 

Guest follow up;

Jackie Currie has run Euphorbia Design in partnership with Lorraine Cooke for the past 15 years.

www.euphorbia-design.co.uk

[email protected]

Jackie and her alliums can often be found exhibiting at RHS Flower Shows Hampton Court & Chelsea, where she is a multiple medal-winner.

 

Further useful research;

There is none! Jackie doesn’t recommend any books or websites as useful resources for information on Alliums and I must say that having a poke around on the internet reveals common advice mainly conflicts with Jackie’s findings. Perhaps if you have any experience of alliums that may be useful you can email them to me [email protected] and I will can pass them on to Jackie and I will find a way to share them online with listeners. 

 

Allium names, in order of mention;

Allium

atropurpureum

‘Silver Spring’

ampeloprasum

‘Purple Sensation’

wallichii

altissimum

christophii

sphaerocephalon

senescens

lusitanicum

giganteum

‘Ambassador’

schubertii

caeruleum

caesium

‘Eros’

‘Mount Everest’

‘Mont Blanc’

‘Globemaster’

nigrum

‘Gladiotor’

paradoxum var. normale 

siculum

litvinovii

angulosum

fistulosum

‘Early Emperor’

 

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