5B zone. Currently full sun. The previous home owner had planted beautiful allium bulbs 15 + years ago, I went to dig them up to move them after they bloomed and dried up in late July. For each dried flower, I dug up 1 larger bulb around 2.5 cm diameter, and multiple smaller bulbs that ranged from 0.5 – 0.8 cm around it. Questions: 1. Will the smaller bulbs bloom? There never is several flowers in one spot. 2. How to I store them over the winter to replant them at a later time? We are doing a major landscaping project, and I don’t know where I want to move them to.
Thank you for your questions about alliums. Alliums are beautiful flowers that can be stunning focal points in the garden or be planted as swathes behind other, shorter plants that hide the allium foliage. The dried flower heads can provide winter interest too!
To answer your first question, the smaller bulbs are called offsets. They can be planted as well as the mother bulbs and will eventually produce flowers. They will have to become larger and have enough stored energy to produce flowers. This may take a few years so be patient. This online article by the Piedmont Master Gardeners in the U.S. has great information about how to plant and care for your allium bulbs. The Gardeners’ World website from the UK has a growing guide and photos of several varieties so you may be able to identify yours.
Toronto Master Gardeners has answered a question previously about storing allium bulbs over winter that will answer your second question.
Best of luck with the alliums and your landscape project! Please visit the Toronto Master Gardener website and search our Gardening Guides for ideas and information, including our guide to Native Plants for Habitat.