HOME | DD

Description
Onion, garlic and chives really have a huge number of relatives - maybe 750 species belong to the genus Allium. One of the loveliest among them is Allium callimischon ssp. haemostictum, a dwarf plant native to the island Crete.

This species shows a peculiar growth behavior: from fall to spring, during its growing period, it develops a lot of narrow green leaves that make it look like a small grass. Then, in May, it develops its flower stalks but then, the plant goes into its summer dormancy: the leaves suddenly die back, while the flower stalks dry out and look like dead, finally. If the gardener, disappointed about this failure, cuts them off, he or she will have lost ... because the plant will never show any flower!

It's strange but as soon as the plant receives some water in late August or September, the flower stalks completely recover, and at their top, every one of them presents a bunch of pretty tiny flowers within a couple of days!

Description
Onion, garlic and chives really have a huge number of relatives - maybe 750 species belong to the genus Allium. One of the loveliest among them is Allium callimischon ssp. haemostictum, a dwarf plant native to the island Crete.

This species shows a peculiar growth behavior: from fall to spring, during its growing period, it develops a lot of narrow green leaves that make it look like a small grass. Then, in May, it develops its flower stalks but then, the plant goes into its summer dormancy: the leaves suddenly die back, while the flower stalks dry out and look like dead, finally. If the gardener, disappointed about this failure, cuts them off, he or she will have lost ... because the plant will never show any flower!

It's strange but as soon as the plant receives some water in late August or September, the flower stalks completely recover, and at their top, every one of them presents a bunch of pretty tiny flowers within a couple of days!