anza2821, Aliums in general need no pre-chilling per say. The normal cold of winter should do fine. Now your zone 9 is admittedly getting a little far south for reliable blooming of most spring-flowering bulbs but Aliums aren't normally so picky, as they are a member of the onion family. Provide a well drained soil in full sun that has a lot of compost incorporated into it. Water them well and mulch them lightly. If the ground does freeze (which it shouldn't in zone 9), apply additional mulch to keep it frozen. Once they emerge in the spring apply a good quality slow release fertilizer (they are heavy feeders) and keep them watered regularly and mulched when it gets warm. Plan on staking them when they emerge next spring I personally like the green wire plant stakes). You will want to side-dress your Aliums with compost each fall and spring thereafter and plan on digging them every three years os so to divide them and rejuvenate the bed. The link below is a great source of information on all my gardening issues and I like their newsletter to. Here is a link that might be useful: Gardening Resource

thanks guys. 3. Araucaria is possible... 4. Manihot it is. I don't think we can get a species from a photo like this. 5. I'm still looking 6. if it's Hypericum then it's pbb Hypericum mysorense. In the back of my mind I thought Hypericaceae, but the stamens in cluster of 3 made me think wait no... So H mysorense it is! any ideas on 1 and 2? I could have sworn I've seen 1 in a nursery before.

I believe this forum is mostly for garlic and onion growers. It should be called the Edible Allium Forum. Anyway, I have found that some of the large allium flower bulbs such as Gladiator don't produce big flowers for very many years. The flowers seem to get smaller every year. I would highly recommend A. Globemaster as it produces a large flower every year, doesn't set seed. but the bulb does divide in half, so you get two bulbs the next year. In my neck of the woods (southern Ontario Canada) they sell for $10-12 each, and are available for sale in the fall.

The Petrea volubilis (Queen's Wreath) is a pretty purple flowered vine that can handle part shade but it doesn't flower year round. I'm not sure what vine blooms year round. You could plant vines together that bloom at different times of the year.