Allium

Last September, I found five bargain allium bulbs at Walmart and stuck them into one of the greenhouse beds. According to the information I can find, they should sprout sometime in the spring. Mid-February is still winter in Zone 5a, but it has been in the 50's outside most days, and it gets above 80 degrees in the greenhouse if the sun is shining. Four of the five allium started poking their heads above the surface a few days ago, and today they look like they are serious...but there is no sign of the fifth one. Either it knows it is still winter, or it rotted in the ground. (Feb. 24: The fifth allium is up.)

Allium is in the onion family, as are chives. One of the chive pots also has decided it is spring, and I decided it may as well get some sun.

I trimmed back the two sage plants and am hoping for a revival in the spring. If they revive, I will dig them up and put them elsewhere because they are right in the middle of my planned tomato/pepper bed. The three garlic are growing, the two buried mums seem to be OK under the straw, and there is still no word from the onion seeds.

Regarding my recent succulent obsession, I took portraits of all the Sempervivums in the greenhouse today. Again. Rather than fill up blog posts with these images, I'm creating static pages for each variety. Unless and until I lose ambition, the goal is to have static pages for ALL of my plants, with pictures and care guides. The link for the menu page "Plant Photos and Complete List" is located near the top of the right-hand menu. The first page completed is for Budai Mountains, which is pretty much my favorite Sempervivum now with the little offsets/buds that fall off, roll away and establish new plants. Here's a sample image.