Sent you an email. Sjackwheat

Check for voles anyway. Although almost any catalog will tell you that Alliums are deer and vole proof, they are not. I lost a bed of over 100 Globemasters a few years back to voles during the winter. The bed was completely tunneled through, and there was even a nest down in there. So, apparently, at least some voles do develop a taste for alliums.

Although "Allium" is the name for a family of bulbing plants, but there is a class of them just known as " Allium" . They are planted as flowers, sold and used as cut flowers by the florists. I have collected some seeds from them and would want to propagate more plants. But I don't know when should I plant them. OR should I refrigerate them first or not. Any ideas out there. I would appreciate.

Ida, I've used bamboo skewers, usually available about 15" long, to support stems. You can glue two together to make them longer..just extend one below the other about halfway...does this make sense? Also, if I were you I'd disentangle the bunch and hang each separately. When dried they are fairly fragile and it will be hard to separate without damage. As to other uses, they make beautiful xmas tree decorations...just cut off head and tuck into branches. I've seen them sprayed white, gold or silver for this use. I just used them natural along with bits of things made from artemesia, other seedheads, small baskets, straw ornaments, etc. The heads also look great just piled in wooden platter ...maybe atop some potpourri. jo