Wild/Perennial/Babington leeks

Hi again - I know absolutely nothing about Phytosanitary certificates. The Government website has this https://www.gov.uk/guidance/export-plant...eland#fees which implies that there is a cost attached to the inspection and certification of plant material.
I've heard about several companies that have stopped selling seeds/plants outside the UK because of the complexity. Since the UK left the EU it has become very restrictive as we can't even send seeds to the EU now.
Can I ask why you're so interested in Babington leeks?

Hi again - I know absolutely nothing about Phytosanitary certificates. The Government website has this https://www.gov.uk/guidance/export-plant...eland#fees which implies that there is a cost attached to the inspection and certification of plant material.
I've heard about several companies that have stopped selling seeds/plants outside the UK because of the complexity. Since the UK left the EU it has become very restrictive as we can't even send seeds to the EU now.
Can I ask why you're so interested in Babington leeks?

Most of my family is from Ireland and Scotland.  I've only been over there once, but I was quite taken with the Irish country side.  I just happened to read about the Babington Leeks and was interested in trying to get some established over here in the mulched rows between my fruit trees.  I think I can accommodate their soil and climate requirements and would really like to try to get them naturalized on my farm. 

Alliums are among the very few things I can grow outside of a fenced area.  Our part of the world is overrun with whitetail deer, and they will eat just about anything. They have even taken to eating my the leaves off of my rhubarb plants (which, until recently, survived in the rows of my orchard).  

We have Allium tricoccum, a very close cousin of your ramson, over here.  I am propagating it, but would also like to get some of the Ramsons growing too.   Any interest in Paw Paws (Asimina triloba) or Persimmons (Diospyros virginiana)?  Interested in trading some? 

Do you grow Elephant Garlic? Its very similar to Babington leeks both in appearance and taste. https://garlicstore.com/elephant-garlic/
I would imagine its more widely available than the perennial leeks.

Do you grow Elephant Garlic? Its very similar to Babington leeks both in appearance and taste. https://garlicstore.com/elephant-garlic/
I would imagine its more widely available than the perennial leeks.

Not yet, but i also anticipated getting it started. 

From what I read about the Babingtons, I was thinking I could get them established in my orchard tree rows and then disperse them around the property in areas where i have sandy-loam soils and see if they would naturalize.  The wild ramps on my property have taken well to this approach.  i started collecting them from the one location where i found them on the property when we acquired it and have them established about 6 other areas of the property now with a north facing, tree-covered slope.

I started with 6 Babington bulbils about 15 years ago. I still don't have a good sized clump of them. They're not one for a quick return!
I've planted them, and the Elephant garlic in several places around the garden (which is mostly tree covered) hoping to find a spot where they're really happy. When they are growing, I find it difficult to distinguish between the two alliums, its only when they flower that I know which is which.
We have an invasive allium here - Allium triquestrum (Three cornered leek) - that one spreads too well. I like it to look at and to use in cooking, but it has to be kept in check or it will be everywhere. Be warned.

I started with 6 Babington bulbils about 15 years ago. I still don't have a good sized clump of them. They're not one for a quick return!
I've planted them, and the Elephant garlic  in several places around the garden (which is mostly tree covered) hoping to find a spot where they're really happy. When they are growing, I find it difficult to distinguish between the two alliums, its only when they flower that I know which is which.
We have an invasive allium here - Allium triquestrum (Three cornered leek) - that one spreads too well. I like it to look at and to use in cooking, but it has to be kept in check or it will be everywhere. Be warned.

Sorry to hear about the slow-starting habit.  I was hoping they might be a prolific as Egyptian walking onions (Allium proliferum ) seem to be here.  I bought 10 small bulbils of those two years ago and put them out in a pot when they arrived in the spring.  They came up, but did not produce bulbils that first year.  Last year, each of them did, with some having bulbils on bulbils and a few even going to a third tier.  I replanted the bulbils as soon as they matured and divided the original bulbs and replanted last fall.  I now have 12, 3-gallon pots full of them (includes original bulbs, and bulbils from this year and last) at the house and started putting them out in the orchard rows this year.  I'm going to attach a picture of some on the ones at the house in town.  I just counted 26 individual plants up in the one pot that has the volunteer dill growing in it.  All told the 10 original bulbils must have yielded more than 400 plants now.  They are incredible multipliers. 

I was hoping, in the right setting the Babingtons would adopt a similar reproduction scheme, given that they reproduce by topsets too.  I was thinking that I read that they were plants that appreciated a full-sun spot and were not overly needy when it came to watering requirements.  Is that your understanding?

Funny you should mention your three-cornered leek, it is also on my list of allium species to give a try to.  Invasive does not bother me.  I have 165 acres of my own to fool with and another 50+ that I caretake and can use as I see fit.  I can always just mow down anything that wanders out of an area I don’t want it in. 

Over here, most folks consider wineberries invasive,  I just consider them a non-native, but useful, food resource.  Mustard garlic holds a similar spot, although, I am much less inclined to eat it.  But I’ll take a wineberry pie or wineberry-apple-mint jelly anytime you put it in front of me.

If you’d want to drop a few seeds from (that’s right isn’t it, they reproduce by seed?) your three cornered leek in the mail, that is a letter I would love to receive.

Good news, I hope.  Someone in Wales got back in touch with me and I think they are going to mail me a letter with some Babington bulbils.

To be fair to the Babingtons, I haven't given them much TLC. If I'd planted up the bulbils each year, there would have been more of them. Instead, I've been letting them do their own thing, dropping their bulbils in situ. My garden is tiny, compared to yours so there's not a lot of space for big clusters of plants.
We have plenty of rain here in Wales (Cardiff) so I never water any garden plants, only those in pots or in a greenhouse. They don't have much sunlight either as I have lots of trees, fruit and native oaks and ash. I'm afraid that plants here have to look after themselves. If they can't do that, then they can go.

I hope your Welsh contact can send you some leeks. I can't let you have any three cornered leeks as they are mown down in spring to stop them spreading.

To be fair to the Babingtons, I haven't given them much TLC. If I'd planted up the bulbils each year, there would have been more of them. Instead, I've been letting them do their own thing, dropping their bulbils in situ. My garden is tiny, compared to yours so there's not a lot of space for big clusters of plants.
We have plenty of rain here in Wales (Cardiff) so I never water any garden plants, only those in pots or in a greenhouse. They don't have much sunlight either as I have lots of trees, fruit and native oaks and ash. I'm afraid that plants here have to look after themselves. If they can't do that, then they can go.

I hope your Welsh contact can send you some leeks. I can't let you have any three cornered leeks as they are mown down in spring to stop them spreading.

Not a problem.  If you happen to ever let any go to see, please keep me in mind.....................mark.edward.gorman@gmail.com