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Guessing Allium seedlings

linnea56 (zone 5b Chicago)

17 years ago

I think I have a lot of allium seedlings coming up. Last year I let them form seeds because I thought the heads still looked interesting that way.

How can I tell? Do they have a leaf like chives? There are an awful lot of "them" coming up, more than I think I want. But I planted a slew of minor bulbs last fall too: including a small white allium (whose name I forgot); don't want to pull those up by mistake. Since those bulbs are new I don't know their foliage yet.

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Comments (3)

raul_in_mexico
17 years ago
Allium are ornamental onions ( they are the same genera, guess which one ? Allium ), so if youÂ´ve got onion like foliage unexpectedly growing where you had planted the bulbs you left to seed last year then they are most probably baby alliums.
leslie197
17 years ago
Ipheons also have grassy-like foliage similar to some small alliums. Allium unifolium leaves look exactly the same as the Ipheons, except they get taller. The Ipheons foliage only gets about 3 inches high, but the unifoliums grow to about 7 inches. This flattish grass foliage on both the ipheons and alliums curves downward somewhat from the top and they both eventually make some pretty thick clumps of this grass. It can be impossible to tell the difference at first. Other alliums have a more upright oniony look, and some of course, produce a quite strappy wide foliage. My guess is that you could smell a difference between the ipheons and the alliums if you handled the foliage.
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linnea56 (zone 5b Chicago)
Original Author
17 years ago
I didn't plant Ipheions, so that's not one! I think I will just have to wait until the minor bulbs have bloomed; some of which will be in June. I know I planted Allium Ostrowkiana and Allium Neopolitaneum (sp?). Have Brodaia too: can't remember what that foliage looks like.

That'll teach me to plant in the dark! I was facing imminent bad weather, so was rushing. I had made a chart but was hitting tulips everywhere I dug, so after a while was happy just to find a place to shove one in.

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