Summer Beauty Allium - One Month In - July 2020

Back in the end of June, I planted eight additional Summer Beauty Ornament Onion (allium) on the south side of our property in the bed that runs from east to west.  We picked them up (or...had someone picked them up) from Hinsdale Nursery and I put seven of them in a staggered planting.  When they went in, they were just green foliage, but today - if you look at the photo at the top of this post - you'll notice that they're all flowering some lovely purple sphere-shaped flowers.  Each of them have multiple flowers, but ALL of them are leaning to the East. 

Looking at this photo, one thing that I'm noticing is that the mulch that I put down (delivered in mid-April this year) has already broken down quite a bit.  This area - and these Allium could use a mulch refresh. 

That leads me to ask a question:  do gardeners mulch twice a year?  This post recommends both a Spring and Fall mulch? 

You should add mulch whenever layers thin out for any reason. You’ll also want to replace mulch if it breaks apart in your hands like dirt because it’s no longer effective at that point. Otherwise, you’ll want to add mulch twice a year — once in the spring and once in the fall. 

In the spring, add more mulch to either replace old decomposed mulch or to replenish mulch that has washed or blown away, making sure to maintain a thickness of at least 2 inches. Wait until mid to late spring when the soil is warm and moist to apply new mulch to keep moisture in and help prepare plants for summer heat. If you add mulch too early or when the soil is cool and wet, it could slow seed germination.

Is that something to think about?  Wondering if I should start to think about a late Summer mulch order?  Or, at least a look at some bags of mulch for some areas where I planted this year like these Allium?   Could be an item for the 2021 to-do list - add a late Summer mulch to anything that is freshly planted in the current season?