Leek question.

[uppityperson]

Sorry for the multiple posts but I've been on vacation a month and returned home to The Garden and am having fun.

So, leeks. I got some from friends, planted them and got bulbettes off of them last spring. I pulled the plants, took off the bulbettes and planted them. Now they look like leeks. The ones I didn't pull flowered a beautiful purple flower, but all the leeks I can find online have white flowers. And nowhere does it say anything about the little bulbettes that form around the base of my leeks (underground by the roots).

Do I really have leeks, or are they something else, or are they some odd variety, or is the online stuff just not helpful?

They taste good, and I found I can rub the skins off the bulbettes and have, voila! Pearl onions to throw into things. But what am I growing? The big part of the plant looks like a leek, but the flower color and the bulbettes make me wonder.

[NJCher]

1. I've grown leeks for years

and never gotten anything like that.



Cher

[uppityperson]

2. Thanks, I thought it was kind of odd. I think I'll buy some true starts this spring

and see if they turn out differently. Whatever I have is ok, just odd.

[japple]

3. My leeks have a pinkish white flower. They form little new

leeks all around the base of the mature stalk. I just pull them apart and plant them. When I originally ordered the plants, they came as "slips" which looked like very small dried green onions. We just put each slip into a hole made by pushing a dowel into the ground and filled in with a little soil.

I'm wondering if there are seeds in the flower heads and if you can propagate leeks by burying the flower heads. Does anyone know?