How do I get rid of these alliums?

On Radio 4's Gardeners Question Time Bob Flowerdew states that invasive bulbs cannot survive having their foliage mowed or cut down to soil level repeatedly.

I am happy to have alliums in my garden, but my problem is with Ash seedlings, especially when they grow amongst the rose stems.

That sounds brilliant Norah. The roses are wonderful too this year. All very natural here though - I would never win an award for garden design. Almost everything seeding where it wants is welcome - forgetmenots, alliums, poppies, aquilegias, foxgloves, cow parsley, hardy geraniums, English bluebells, valerian, toadflax, you name it. If it seeds somewhere that means it’s happy there and that’s fine with me.

Germanshepherdsmum

I have lots of alliums and in one bed - my ‘wild bed’ - they have multiplied amongst masses of oxeye daisies. A lovely sight. I allow buttercups too, in that bed only. And the foxgloves are coming into bloom too. My garden is far from manicured!

This is us. We live in farm country with acres of wild flower beds, gravel paths, tall pretty trees, bird feeders, lovely places to sit out - when/if it's ever warm enough for a few days.

I agree about the digging, digging and digging - my battle in this garden is with grape hyacinths and I'm gradually getting them to 'pretty' rather than 'thugish' proportions.
I had a similar battle with aliums in a previous garden - a carpet of white froth for a week followed by months of dying leaves. Again digging up each year and being ruthless did the trick.

As said above, don't put them on the compost heap - they'll just thank you by spreading throughout the garden.

The only way I’ve managed do it, for Spanish bluebells in my case, is to cover up the ground fully before they sprout up so the bulbs are weakened and no more bulblets are formed that year, leave the ground cover on all summer, then dig the bulbs out in the autumn. It works really well for large patches of ground, but it’s not pretty. I resorted to using a tarpaulin and covering it with bark to make it less obvious. I cut round the bushes so it got the lurking ones too.
I’ve still got a few clumps, and I also cut all the flower heads and leaves off as soon as they finished flowering, as
the seeds will also move round the garden and start new clumps. They are a pain!

Don't let the flower heads become seed heads. In my experience, alliums are the most successful seeders ever!

I'd go for digging up as many as possible and removing flower heads.

As for those sycamore seedlings I find that cutting them off at ground level when they are very young stops them in their tracks. Get after them with a strimmer, AskAlice

I have lots of alliums and in one bed - my ‘wild bed’ - they have multiplied amongst masses of oxeye daisies. A lovely sight. I allow buttercups too, in that bed only. And the foxgloves are coming into bloom too. My garden is far from manicured!

I have dipped my rubber gloved finger in weed killer, wandered around and touched weeds at their base. That works quite well.

Germanshepherdsmum

You can pull off the unsightly allium leaves, just leaving the flowers if you wish. They will still bloom next year.

Ours are gorgeous pink globes. We pull leaves and allow blooms.

I have/had an allium that infests/infested my garden. It is essentially one tall dark green furled leaf that starts to unfurl a bit when it reaches about a foot, if I let it get that tall. I have no idea what the flower is like. I have never even seen a bud on it. but it turned up in my garden about 15 years ago in a rose bed close to the house, hundreds of them and has been present ever since.

It is now in retreat because I have, for the last 15 years assiduously dug them up bulbs and all and I never ever put the the bulbs or greenery on the compost heap. they go in the black bin, or even food recycling (anaroebic digestion) if it is only a few. This didn't stop them, when they were at their most rampant, spreading over the whole lawn, as well as borders and veg - and I have a big garden.

I am afraid, I think this is the only policy open to the OP, dig them up and dig them up and dig them up, hands and knees with a hand fork. If you do not get the bulbs up you are wasting your time.

GSM - I have done that in the past but there are literally hundreds of them!

PamelaJ1 Thank you - I can sympathise with you also. we have woods at the bottom of the garden which are full of sycamores. Each spring we both spend hours pulling up thousands of seedlings! Between those and the alliums I am at least keeping fit with all the bending and digging!!!

You can pull off the unsightly allium leaves, just leaving the flowers if you wish. They will still bloom next year.

Goodness only knows, would you like some Japanese anemones?
I don’t know about the meek inheriting the world I think it may be the Sycamore trees inheriting it instead.
Sorry I’m not any help but I thought there might be some comfort in knowing others are suffering too!