alliums

Alliums are incredibly perennial and flower for ages. These ones in my garden have been coming back for the last 20 years. I love them for adding late spring and early summer pizzazz, as well as bringing strong colour and shape to the border. Plus, they are excellent for cutting as both flowers and seedheads, and brilliant for the bees.

Allium

There are no better value alliums than these two. ‘Purple Sensation’ is a deep, rich purple, Allium aflatunense (hollandicum) is a more smoky mauve. Mix them up together in the garden, or harvest them for inside.

(15 of each) £18.95

(30 of each) £32.95

Large lilac-purple flowers atop tall, sturdy stems, making ‘Jackpot’ an excellent choice for planting in drifts in borders. Also excellent for cutting. a May-June. H.90cm 261055 5 bulbs £16.95

10 bulbs £29.95

20 bulbs £52.95 a July-August. H.45cm

This small-headed, rich, blackcurrant allium is later to flower than most, and is invaluable for it. Very pretty and gently self-sows.

260011 40 bulbs £5.50

80 bulbs £8.95

120 bulbs £10.95

This truly spectacular giant mauve globe follows on from ‘Purple Sensation’ in its flowering season, getting bigger and better every year. a June-July. H.90cm 260002

3 bulbs £20.95

6 bulbs £37.50

9 bulbs £54.95

Digitalis purpurea

‘Sutton’s Apricot’ B

200264

15 Jumbo seedlings £26.95

30 Jumbo seedlings £49.95

Despatched from mid-September

060042

150 seeds £1.95

Linaria purpurea

‘Canon Went’ 200985

15 seedlings £11.95

30 seedlings £22.50

Despatched from early October

These are my desert island alliums for arranging and the ones I pick the most. I love the starry openness of ‘Purple Rain’, the beautiful, long-lasting, pink-mauve flowers of Allium unifolium and, of course, the ever-stalwart ‘Purple Sensation’impossible to beat in flower or seedhead. a May-June. H.90cm 260870 33 bulbs (3 x ‘Purple Rain’ and 15 each of A. unifolium and ‘Purple Sensation’) £16.50

65 bulbs (5 x ‘Purple Rain’ and 30 each of A. unifolium and ‘Purple Sensation’) £24.95

261434 33 bulbs £22.50

Gardener and good friend, Arthur Parkinson, chose this collection which bridges everything alliums can do – from intensity to architectural glamour. And all three have the RHS AGM, so they’re easy and reliable to grow. Interplant them with the soft pink foxglove ‘Sutton’s Apricot’, Linaria purpurea ‘Canon Went’ and create a fluffy bronze carpet of fennel below (see our website). a May-July. H.90cm 261486 45 bulbs (15 of each) £34.95 a June-July. H.60cm 260001 15 bulbs £9.95

The classic, huge-headed sparkler, with seedheads almost as good as the flowers. It’s hard to beat on value, lasting in the garden for decades.

30 bulbs £14.95

Many alliums are purple, but the white ones are magnificent too, particularly these pretty whites that flower in succession. Includes 20 x bulbs of A. neapolitanum Cowanii Group, and 5 x bulbs each of A. amplectens ‘Graceful Beauty’ and A. nigrum. a May-June. H.60cm

260869 30 bulbs (as above) £10.95

60 bulbs (as above x 2) £17.95

90 bulbs (as above x 3) £23.95

My favourite eccentric and showy firework allium. Its flowers are vast, pink, spiky, and sweet-scented. Unmissable. a June-July. H.60cm

260010 3 bulbs £7.50

9 bulbs £15.95

A brand new variety much like my top favourite ‘Allium schubertii’, but in a deeper, richer purple. a June-July.

H.60cm

261792 3 bulbs £6.95

9 bulbs £11.95

A beautiful, cream, statuesque allium, wonderful mixed in with huge-headed purple forms such as ‘Globemaster’. The pollinators absolutely love both. a June-July. H.90cm

260892 3 bulbs £12.95

6 bulbs £21.50

9 bulbs £32.50

Increasingly, I’ve come to love white alliums, and so have many garden designers. This is a new and excellent variety, which, planted with A. ‘Mount Everest’ gives a layered effect. a June. H.1.2m

261061 6 bulbs £23.95

12 bulbs £42.95

Take the time to get a chair and sit by your alliums to see visiting pollinators coming and going. That’s just what I did before nailing my selection of this super-pollinator family. a May-June. H.1.2m

261713 36 bulbs (Includes 15 x ‘Purple Rain’, 15 x siculum (syn. Nectaroscordum) & 6 x ‘Lucy Ball’) £29.95

69 bulbs (Includes 30 x ‘Purple Rain’, 30 x siculum (syn. Nectaroscordum) & 9 x ‘Lucy Ball’) £49.95

A collection of the easiest spring naturalising bulbs. Includes 25 x corms of Crocus vernus, 10 x bulbs of Narcissus

20 x bulbs of Muscari ‘Valerie Finnis’ and 5 x bulbs of Camassia leichtlinii ‘Alba’. a March-May. H.90cm 260994 60 bulbs (as above) £37.95