Monday, June 01, 2009

Fwing!

Last year, I introduced the word 'fwing' to describe the foliage explosion of certain plants at this time of year. One of the best group of plants for floral fwinging are alliums.

Allium atropurpureum

Allium christophii with their starry spheres.

Unlike Arabella Sock, my Allium schubertii have survived the ravages of cats. Their explosions come in two tiers:

Nectaroscordum siculum has been written about here. The Invasion of the Body Snatchers allusion is spot on. Once the bud breaks, however, the individual flowers snake out of their skin like the lively locks of Medusa.

12 comments:

Esther Montgomery said...

Starbursts!

I think your 'Fwing' post was the second I ever read. And now, a year later, I discover I misunderstood it. I thought 'Fwing' was the sound a fern made as it unsprung - exclusively.

I expect I've understood some things properly.

Esther

chaiselongue said...

Beautiful. Here, the wild garlic flowers are out. We're still waiting for our giant leek to flower, though!

CanadianGardenJoy said...

Here I am using "fwing" as my whole garden seems to have taken a giant leap forward ! LOL
Beautiful pictures : )
Joy

Zoƫ said...

I love alliums too. A. christophii is one of my faves though, because the seed heads are equally beautiful and look amazing for months.

LittleGreenFingers said...

I love the fact there are so many allium varieties. There are always more left to 'fwing' after the others have 'fwung'

Helen/patientgardener said...

Nectaroscordum are on my wish list for next year most definately

Nutty Gnome said...

Great post HM (- and it's so nice to be back in blogland after struggling with dodgy internet connections for days!)

I love alliums and you're right, they definitly do fwing! :)

Anna said...

'Fwing' reminds me of the noise elastic bands make or is that ping ? I like the alliums. Does the nectaroscordum siculum send up many little seedlings?

Joanne said...

Fwing hmm! I think Esther's description fitted well.

I love the photos of your alliums.

easygardener said...

Allium schubertii are a little odd with their two layers. I can never get a descent picture of the flower as a whole - the focus is always off and the head looks like it has exploded! Love the Nectaroscordum siculum. I must get some.

Rothschild Orchid said...

Absolutely stunning photographs!
I'm off in search of some fwing!

HappyMouffetard said...

Oh, I could have sworn I left a comment earlier. Ooops - I'll try again.

Esther - when somebeans and I started using the word, we did relate it just to ferns, but it quickly spread to any plant which looks as though it bursts out.

Chaiselongue - I love walking in woods at this time of year, accompanied by the smell of wild garlic.

Garden Joy 4 Me - yes, it's a wonderful time of year for the whole garden just bursting with growth.

Zoe - I love the christophii seedheads too. In winter, they roll around like exotic tumbleweed.

LGF - yes, we've some more coming on. The buds are almost as exciting (and certainly more weird) as the flowers.

PG, Anna, EG - we planted Nectaroscordum in our last garden, but this is the first year I've had them here. I hope they do self seed.

NG - They do indeed. Glad you're back in blogland.

Joanne and RO - thank you for your comments :)