Ornamental garlic: how to grow it in the ground and in a pot

It's the same family as the garlic plant we use in cooking. But its flowers are splendid and last all summer.

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ORNAMENTAL GARLIC

Ornamental garlic, or also allium giganteum, belongs to the same genus asgarlic which we use in many dishes in the kitchen, allium sativium, but its qualities are very different. And they concern first of all the beautiful flowers of ornamental garlic.

ORNAMENTAL GARLIC

Ornamental garlic, with its green leaves that in some cases have white streaks, includes about 300 species of bulbous plants, which add a lot to the table and even more to the beauty of the garden. The most beautiful and easiest to grow are those that atop bare stems that form large spherical heads of small flowers. Among these, the record for beauty and longevity goes to the hybrid A. globemaster: about 80 cm tall, it has flowers lilac-purple that renew themselves for 3-4 weeks or more.

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EXPOSURE AND CLIMATE

Ornamental garlic is a hardy plant that adapts to any climate. However, the best results are achieved in Mediterranean regions: ornamental garlic It loves full sun and can tolerate partial shade for a few hours a day. Below 4-5 degrees Celsius, it's best to bring the plant indoors or cover it tightly with plastic to keep it out of the wind and cold.

SOIL AND CULTIVATION CARE

It adapts to any soil, as long as it is well-drained. In fairly compact and humus-rich soils, place the seeds on a bed of soil at the time of planting. bulbs on a layer of fine gravel sand. To maintain its vigor, it's helpful to apply a potassium-rich granular fertilizer in early spring.

IRRIGATION

It is necessary to keep the soil not excessively moist in summer and avoid water stagnation. Reduce drastically in winter. Also because theallium It is used to making do with the water that comes from rain and frost.

SOWING AND FLOWERING

The planting time for bulbs is between September and November; with dry and loose soil even in December. flowering It's early summer. The flowers of ornamental garlic are unmistakable. They are large, globose, umbrella-shaped inflorescences, which can have a diameter of 10 to 15 centimeters and a height of up to 50 to 80 centimeters. The inflorescences are composed of lots of little flowers White, pink, purple, and violet in color. These flowers, alternating so frequently, end up lasting all summer and only disappearing with the arrival of autumn.

POT CULTIVATION

Ornamental garlic is suitable, in open ground, to cover, complement, and embellish a rock garden. Or even to add liveliness and elegance to a border. Its cultivation It's also very easy to grow in a pot; the important thing is that the soil is at least 40 centimeters deep and the exposure is the same as for the ornamental garlic plant in open ground. Finally, spread 5 centimeters of expanded clay pebbles on the bottom.

PROBLEMS AND REMEDIES

Ornamental garlic, in general, can be subject to some types of mushrooms due to excessive soil moisture. If this occurs, drastically reduce watering.

THREE FLOWERS TO GROW IN THE GARDEN:

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