Not sure what cultivars you are growing Paul, but five or six years is way too long to grow most Alliums without dividing them. Fertilize early in the season, already when the bulbs emerge, after they bloom it is too late. Lift them this summer and check how large they are. Probably the bulbs are starved and not of blooming size. You may need to divide them and grow them an additional year until they are large enough to bloom again.

Planted 75 allium bulbs last fall. They didn't come up.

Sorry to hear that, Sweetgrass. When Alliums don't emerge, it is typically a question of the soil being too wet, causing rot, but I recommend digging to see if you can find the old bulbs and see what has happened. Other sources of rot could be planting too late, poor quality bulbs that has been improperly stored or diseases.

What cultivars did you plant, how is your soil, how is your climate, when did you plant them... all of this is important to determine why they failed to emerge.

I'm new here, so I do not know if you prefer I started my own thread about this, but I recently noticed something growing on my allium flowers and I wanted to know if anyone can give me some advice as to what I am looking at (picture below).

Is this something to worry about? Is it normal?

We only planted the bulbs this past fall, so I have no idea what to expect here.

Please let me know what you guys think!

ge1836 said:Last year I planted many allium Purple Sensation.I noticed some have not returned and a few others are small and look short lived.
Has anyone had problems with this variety?

I had ten bloom last year. Only one came up this year. Perhaps they didn't get enough sun in the summer time. From the comments they don't seem very reliable and are picky about both soil and light.

I have oodles of Purple Sensation that reseed every year. I just crumple the dried seed ball and throw the seeds wherever I want more!

caitlinsgarden said: I have oodles of Purple Sensation that reseed every year. I just crumple the dried seed ball and throw the seeds wherever I want more!

Keep in mind that these seedlings, whilst similar to 'Purple Sensation', won't actually be the cultivar 'Purple Sensation'.

Probably a dumb question, but I need to divide large flowered alliums. I've not had to divide them before. When I divide something like daffodils, I dig them up after the foliage browns in summer. I do not replant them until the fall, though, as I know they're not going to root in the hot weather and might rot. Alliums don't have a sheath like daffodils do. Can I dig now and plant later, or is it best to just mark the spots and do both in the fall?