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Can anyone identify these?

17 replies

Jupiter15 · 13/07/2024 18:14

I dug this ‘plant’ out of a flower bed in my garden yesterday and I have no idea what kind of bulbs they are.They were growing next to some ornamental grasses but the leaves were just flopping over. When I first dug them up I thought they were some kind of onion! I know it’s a bit of a long shot but can anyone identify them? Have tried google image but it’s saying spring onions and I’m not convinced.

Can anyone identify these?
Can anyone identify these?
OP posts:
3beesinmybonnet · 13/07/2024 18:31

Bluebells?

TwoThousandAcresofBlueSkyThinking · 13/07/2024 18:34

Do they smell oniony?

It's possible they're a spring flowering bulb if they're in an ornamental border. Do you have a pot with some spare soil you could put them into and see what happens with them next year?

Keep the leaves on to feed the bulbs, wait until they've properly died back before you take them off.

Jupiter15 · 13/07/2024 18:40

3beesinmybonnet · 13/07/2024 18:31

Bluebells?

Pretty sure not as I’ve not seen a Bluebell in the garden and we’ve been here for 2 springs now.

OP posts:
MereDintofPandiculation · 13/07/2024 18:42

Bluebells have white bulbs.

Good job you didn't just trust the app. They could possibly be daffodils, and there have been a number of poisonings of people who have eaten daffodil bulbs or leaves mistaking them for onions or chives.Reports seem particularly numerous in Japan for some reason for example

Jupiter15 · 13/07/2024 18:44

TwoThousandAcresofBlueSkyThinking · 13/07/2024 18:34

Do they smell oniony?

It's possible they're a spring flowering bulb if they're in an ornamental border. Do you have a pot with some spare soil you could put them into and see what happens with them next year?

Keep the leaves on to feed the bulbs, wait until they've properly died back before you take them off.

They didn’t smell oniony, which is why I didn’t believe google! We’ve had this garden 2 springs now and I’ve never noticed anything flowering in that particular patch, though there are poppies and cornflowers next to it. I definitely would have noticed a different flower.
I have currently replanted them elsewhere but I may do what you’ve said and pot them. I’m intrigued.

OP posts:
leeverarch · 13/07/2024 19:04

I thought they might be grape hyacinths - they produce a new set of leaves in summer, but the leaves don't look quite right.

Freesias, maybe?

Jupiter15 · 13/07/2024 19:08

MereDintofPandiculation · 13/07/2024 18:42

Bluebells have white bulbs.

Good job you didn't just trust the app. They could possibly be daffodils, and there have been a number of poisonings of people who have eaten daffodil bulbs or leaves mistaking them for onions or chives.Reports seem particularly numerous in Japan for some reason for example

Yeah, I wasn’t planning on a taste test for that reason.
The bulbs did look more white than they appear in the photo.
The mystery continues.

OP posts:
EwwSprouts · 13/07/2024 19:12

Mini alliums?

KnickerlessParsons · 13/07/2024 19:13

Daffodils?

indianrunnerduck · 13/07/2024 19:18

Maybe Three-cornered garlic or Snowbell (Allium triquetrum)? Although it is quite invasive so you would probably have lots of them.

MereDintofPandiculation · 13/07/2024 20:42

indianrunnerduck · 13/07/2024 19:18

Maybe Three-cornered garlic or Snowbell (Allium triquetrum)? Although it is quite invasive so you would probably have lots of them.

Not an allium if it doesn’t smell oniony or garlicky

indianrunnerduck · 13/07/2024 20:47

Funnily enough though, the three cornered garlic doesn't smell of onions or garlic! I am no gardening expert but I have dug out loads of these because they spread like crazy.
Difficult to tell without seeing the flower.

lcakethereforeIam · 15/07/2024 15:55

My 3 cornered leek smells very oniony, fortunately for me I quite like it. The stems/leaves should be triangular though.

ErrolTheDragon · 15/07/2024 17:08

They didn’t smell oniony, which is why I didn’t believe google! We’ve had this garden 2 springs now and I’ve never noticed anything flowering in that particular patch, though there are poppies and cornflowers next to it. I definitely would have noticed a different flower.
I have currently replanted them elsewhere but I may do what you’ve said and pot them. I’m intrigued.

The bulbs look rather congested. My guess is they are some sort of ornamental bulb (not sure which but not alliums as they don't smell, and I'd think not daffs or tulips as IME they usually have a brown outside layer) but that they've not been fed and so have come up 'blind'. As you've still got green leaves I'd feed them, and also spread them out a bit.

MereDintofPandiculation · 15/07/2024 17:22

ErrolTheDragon · 15/07/2024 17:08

They didn’t smell oniony, which is why I didn’t believe google! We’ve had this garden 2 springs now and I’ve never noticed anything flowering in that particular patch, though there are poppies and cornflowers next to it. I definitely would have noticed a different flower.
I have currently replanted them elsewhere but I may do what you’ve said and pot them. I’m intrigued.

The bulbs look rather congested. My guess is they are some sort of ornamental bulb (not sure which but not alliums as they don't smell, and I'd think not daffs or tulips as IME they usually have a brown outside layer) but that they've not been fed and so have come up 'blind'. As you've still got green leaves I'd feed them, and also spread them out a bit.

I’d have said those did have a brown outside layer, though not very dead yet and so not very brown. Daffodil bulbs as bulbs are basically made of leaves, and the outer ones die to provide some protection.

ErrolTheDragon · 15/07/2024 17:41

On second look, of course @MereDintofPandiculation is right re brownness. (It's usually a bit later in the year when I accidentally dig bulbs I've forgotten about out of my borderGrin).

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