Never heard of that before. My Schubertii were all short and I have collected and germinated seed from them.

Amazing! In these couple of days, the two that were tall grew even taller. The rest are as they were, showing no signs of stalks.

Well that's interesting. Maybe they are mislabelled? Let us know what they look like when they are in full bloom.

One of the two tall ones opened one flower, and it is kinda off-white. They must have been mislabeled. I bought them from DutchGardens. Where did you get yours, Pardalinum? And - where you happy with your Schubertii, overall?
Thanks,
Elena

Yes, it sounds like your tall ones are mislabeled. My first ones I put in a couple of years ago were from mail order but I don't remember which one, maybe McClure and Zimmerman. The ones I purchased last fall were from the local "box" store and quite a bit cheaper, needless to say. They are still in fairly tight bud so don't know if they are correctly labeled; the foliage looks correct. I love my schubertiis and also A. christophiis. I use the dried stem/flowerheads as dried ornaments and toss a few in the garden for the winter for the little birds to hop around. The seed pods open up wide but don't easily drop seed so no problem with them coming up all over. If it is available at the right time, I cut a stem and enter it in the local flower show; it really attracts alot of attention.

Perfectly normal for large Alliums. Some species leaves start to dry out before the flower opens. I have several kinds that do this, including Schubertii.
My Schubertii's are short (under 12" stalk, with 16-24" flower heads. Never white, always purple-ish. You have to plant Schubertiis about 2' apart to get the amazing (fireworks exploding) effect of the flower head.
jb

My Allium schubertii all took an extra year to flower. Maybe it was more than one year. I'm kind of used to things being slow in my garden. The leaves definitely are dying before the bloom opens, and the same is true of my other large ornamental Alliums in the front garden. In back, where it's much wetter, the foliage stays nice and green even on Allium 'Purple Sensation'.

Oh, I was about to dig them out and throw them away in anger. Well, may be I will wait for a year. Two of them are white, though, and not like fireworks at all -- those I will dispose of as soon as I have time.
The leaves on two of what are supposed to be Schubertii have died completely, and I don't see anything emerging in the mulch, not even a sign of a stalk. But since you say they do this in your garden, ljrmiller, before actually flowering, I'll just wait for a year and not try and plant something else there. Thanks for writing about it, it made me less upset, a little more hopeful.