Floppy Alliums

[Catname]

I've planted some tall stemmed purple Alliums that I bought already planted from a local nursery (not sure which type as they were only listed as "Purple" - they look like a smaller version of Purple Sensation). The stems on three of them have just completely flopped over as soon as the bulb flowered.

Has anyone any experience of this? Could it be the weather or because I planted them as part grown plants and the stems aren't strong enough yet?

If they have already flowered, then that's it for this year. You should wait until all the leaves have wilted before lifting up the bulbs and storing them in a dry paper bag until autumn. Alternatively you can attempt leaving them in the ground, and they just might come back next spring.

I use single looped tip supports for mine. They often go a bit wayward. I leave the flower heads on until they’re seeds, they still look pretty.

You shouldnt need to lift them! Maybe planting them weakened the stems - you could tie them to bamboo canes to hold them up but they dont normally need this and they should come back next year.

I've had Alliums (Purple Sensation, Christophii and Nigrum) in a previous garden but never had this overnight flop before. I've also never lifted them and they seemed to flourish (although the sphaerocephalons didn't prosper).

I wonder if it is that I damaged the stems a little when they were being planted and the combination of the flowerhead weighing more plus the rain has put too much pressure on the stem and it's just given way. The flower heads are fine so I've cut them and brought them inside so there's no real hardship. I might try tying the remaining ones up - and see what happens next year.

I leave the flowerheads too Beebumble, and on Agapanthus. They do look pretty

I have some alliums growing in a trough which doesn't get much sun, and they flop - I assume from not having sufficient light. They are only still there because they evaded me when I tried to remove all the bulbs which were wanting more light and moved them to a better position. The tulip bulbs I moved have come up nicely but no alliums seem to have survived the move, so I'm left with a couple of sad floppers.

So that was a really long winded way of saying perhaps they haven't enough sun where they are?

I wonder if they were forced for selling in the garden centre, and didn't build up enough strength in the stem to support the flower?

I'd read about lack of sun and it certainly isn't from since they've been here as they get sun from morning till about 3pm at the moment.

Perhaps there was a bit of forcing/lack of sun from when they were grown though. It's a I bought them at a charity for people with special needs. They grow a lot of what they sell and have a lot of greenhouses. This year hasn't been kind to plants that were put out to harden off.