Gorgeous! Thanks for posting.

very pretty...

Izhar

They're beautiful and full, but they're using the energy that was already stored in the bulb when you planted them last fall. The real test will be how well they come back next year and the year after that. You may see them come back smaller each year if they don't get enough sun on their leaves to store up energy for the next year's flowers.

I've had another kind of allium that got smaller over the years as the shrubs around them grew and shaded them. But they were getting less than your four to five hours of sunshine. That may well be enough. I don't know. Good luck with them!

Oh yes, their leaves don't get much sun at all---they are really hidden behind the boxwoods. Will be interesting to see what happens next year.

I just read the following on a website:

"We supply large bulbs, in the nature of things these will split to produce smaller flowers in the second year, and as these grow larger again flower size will increase."

So maybe I should expect smaller flowers either way next year (sun or not) because this is just 'what they do.' As the bulb grows larger, in subsequent years so will the flowers. We shall see.... A couple of mine are much shorter with smaller heads (and are getting exactly the same amount of sun)-- so maybe they were just smaller bulbs.

Maybe the size of the flower head has less to do with the amount of sun, and more to do with the size of the bulb at any given year.