Just to update, It is beyond expectations how much enjoyment I've been getting from this patch of shallots as they flower. I've been taking loads of pictures but rarely getting the best light - so often washed out color from high UV. Anyway here is my show and tell.
The color of flower buds (I mean spathes) is very diverse, ranging from very pale to dark browns to shades of pink and purple. All of the flowers appear to be (or become) some shade of purple/lavender/to magenta, and the bud color is not an indicator of petal color which is evidently not linked genetically to that of the spathe. So some very cool contrasts occur when petals emerge from the spathe. Big surprises include the dark purple flower in an almost white bud, and white petals emerging from darkest purple - these did however blush pink as they continue to emerge. Last shown is a small white flower emerging from a brown bud which split early - however larger spathes on the plant are producing lavender flowers, so far. Just so many surprises, and really a lot of pretty flowers when I don't have many things blooming for the bees.. I'm just letting it happen.
The height of plants varies from 25-55 cm; the size of flower spathe at maturity also varies from 8-16 mm, and I made note of the number of flowers in the clump which is a pretty good indicator of the number of shoots afaict.
Some of the flowers are so adorable, I would plant for the flowers alone, but of course I have months to wait probably to see what sort of shallots (if any) I will get from them. Luckily, a number of the largest plants with largest shoots are dominating the earliest to flower group, so I will certainly collect seeds from those flowers for starters.
