Allium, a birthday flower of July 23rd

Allium is one of the birthday flowers of July 23rd annually in Japan. It is not in bloom in Japan at the moment, but it is also a birthday flower of May 16th at which time it is in bloom. It typically blooms from May to June, just before rainy season. The photo in this post was taken at the end of May. They can flower for two to three weeks.

There are different types of Allium as you can see in the photo above. It shows silverspring allium in the right foreground and spider allium in the left foreground. The purple ball type behind both is ambassador allium and it is the variety I see most in Japan. They have really grown on me over the years, so unusual and striking. 

In the Japanese language of flowers, the 'hanakotoba', they represent "deep sorrow" and "righteous assertion / standing up for what's right". In English floriography they carry meanings such as "prosperity", "good fortune" and "humility".