The birth of a monster – Allium shubertii

This past February, at a Portland garden show, I came across this gigantic seed head on display. It turned out to be an Allium shubertii, the like of which I had never seen before. The vendor was selling sprouting bulbs, and against better sense, I brought one home. Hopelessly scale-inappropriate for my tiny, stamp-sized city lot – yet I was intrigued.  I just had to try it out! I plunked it down where there was a bit of room available.

It started expanding almost immediately. A pretty rosette of fresh green leaves and a drop-shaped bud.

In April, the bud started breaking apart, and I got a first peek at what was to come.

It’s mid-May, and it’s well on its way. The stalks are emerging and beginning to unfold. It resembles a large paint brush, but there is still no hint of its color, though…

Here the buds are opening up, and I can’t exactly say that I find it very attractive. It’s more of a spectacle than a stunner – not unlike something you might expect to find in a Dr. Seuss book. I notice that it is listing toward the sun – obviously I had planted it where it didn’t quite get enough light. It’s a bright enough spot, but definitely not sun ray-centric enough for this marvel. It will have to be moved at some point, but this will require more work than I am ready for at the moment, so I let it languish for a while longer.

Here it is in all its glory. I admit to not being overly excited about the color it displayed. Not that I mind it, but I just didn’t have a whole lot of other plants with that timid a color. It’s a little pinker than its smaller cousin Allium christophii. Close up, each flower is decidedly a violet shade of pink, but due to its size, each flower is pretty much on its own.  The sheer expanse of the total blanches it out significantly. Placement would definitely require some thinking…

Little individual violet-pink stars exploding outward on stalks of varying lengths, bursting forth from the center – this thing is huge! Imposing in size, yet somewhat timid in color – it is both a little puzzling and paradoxical. Hmmm… how to make this diva sing?  I’m still thinking… The Purple Sensation alliums are much easier – tight, bright purple spheres that pop against almost any background. This is a different animal all together – huge, light, airy, and with that somewhat washed out appearance to boot….

Okay, I had to measure it… Holy cow – 21 inches in diameter. This Allium only gets about as tall as the diameter of its flower, so it’s rather stout in appearance. At this point, the flowering is over, and any matchmaking is pretty much guesswork.

After most of the blossoms were gone, I finally decided to try partnering it with this New Zealand Flax. It will eventually have enough height to provide a suitable backdrop, and the glossy brownish leaves with the pink edges will likely enhance the airy stars. This poor flax had been sitting in its nursery pot for over a year – which is what usually happens when I buy something pink.  Not sure why, but that’s how it is. It’s just not a color you see a lot of in my garden, so I always wonder what in the world I was thinking once I get home from my shopping spree. The color isn’t anywhere near a perfect match, but I always enjoy the game of pushing boundaries. Sometimes the most unlikely partners blur together into the most alluring display! We’ll see for sure next year what it looks like…

For some reason I also think that it might look interesting shooting out of a mound of the grayish purple sage – Salvia officinalis ‘Atropurpureum’. Both Allium, Flax and Sage are decidedly sun-lovers. Aside from the bright purple veins, I also like how the soft fuzzy leaves of the sage contrast with the glossy, swordlike blades of the flax. I haven’t yet put the three together, and by now it’s getting too hot and dry. I should probably wait until fall before I start moving things around again…

Not the best photo, but here you can see it against the Flax. Perhaps by next year the Flax has had time to grow enough to catch up in scale to this Monster Allium. And, if the kids are willing and able, by next summer the wall behind it will be a pretty shade of blue. That ought to help matters along too! For now, I’ll just wait for the seeds to scatter around. With a little luck, next year there will be new mini-monsters – in addition to the kids! Fingers crossed!

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