A Little Experiment
Last fall I added allium to the list of bulbs planted in my yard. They came up beautifully in the spring and I loved the pretty purple ball floating so high above the ground on their tall stalks.
One afternoon a friend and I were talking on my driveway when she pointed to the allium and asked, “Do you spray your flowers?” I was completely confused by her question and she explained that she and a friend of hers both spray paint their allium after they brown. She said they look amazing for the rest of the summer. I was totally surprised by this and a little bit dubious, but even when they browned their form was so pretty in the flowerbed that I decided to try it rather than cut them down.
Some of the flowers had already fallen over so I started on them. I tried white paint first but didn’t love it. Not enough presence. Next I got a beautiful tomato red paint and re-painted them. Much better.
They sit in a vase in my dining room and I love how they turned out!
For the flowers still standing in the yard I took a piece of cardboard to sort of wrap around each flower and catch as much overspray as possible. I didn’t want to paint the surrounding plants, concrete, etc. They’re not perfect, but all of a sudden there’s more color out there and I like the way it looks. Here are a couple of them mingling with blue delphinium:
My little experiment went well, and will be something to consider doing in future years. I’m certainly planting more allium!
