What's the name of this plant/flower ? It begins with an 'A', I think....

[NomDePlume]

It is quite trendy atm. Structural, can grow quite tall, one thick(ish) stem (like that of a red-hot poker) with a big round flower on the top that looks like a dandelion clock, have seen them in lilac-y shades. Help !

I know the one. But can't remember it's name

allium - onion family.

a-ha. Just remembered. It is an ALIUM. Thanks . Doing this thread must've jogged my memory

Thanks, fishie .

So if I plant alliums in my garden (I assume they will grow from bulbs), will they keep coming up year after year ?

(sorry, I'm keen but just not naturally green fingered!)

yes they will (provided you don't stick a spade through the bulb by mistake like i did) and you might get more than one flower per bulb after a couple of years. about the right time to plant them i think too. .

thanks for that fishie. I'll be sure to come to you with all my Allium queries

I think the smaller ones are better- the bigger ones bent on the stems..........

allium spherocephalon is pretty - small heads, plant masses of them together. allium purple sensation my favourite - huge heads,deep colour, but not so enormous that they fall over. allium cristophii is much closer to the ground (maybe a foot and a half tall), but large heads that have very large individual star shaped flowers so they look like bizarre sputniks. SO cool.

you have to plant lots of them all together, no good planting 3 or 8 and expecting it to look good IMO.

hold off planting until late sept it is very dry now and they will get off to a better start if there is a bit of moisture in the soil

CHildren will love the Allium Globemaster though.

Its HUGE.

I think it is a bit..... ahem...... vulgar though vvv.
just TOO big, phnar phnar

Most things children like are vulgar PPH

However, as a keen gardener, I find it difficult to find any plants vulgar, and I'm not one for gardening "fashions"

Thanks for the info, I'm going to give alliums a go, I think I'll try a few of the globemasters and lots of the smaller ones. Are they easy to grow from bulbs ? DD will adore the giant heads on the bigger ones, she adores bizarre over-sized flowers (red hot poker being one of her faves).