CyberSalad: Garden Pursuits: Bulbs: Ornamental Onion/Garlic

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Allium

     The Allium genus, best known for its edible members--onions, garlic, chives, shallots, and leeks--also includes hundreds of unusual and even spectacular ornamental species that grow anywhere from 6 inches to 5 feet tall; their flower heads, varying in size from 2 to 10 inches across, consist of great numbers of blossoms that range in color from white through shades of yellow, pink and red to lavender blue and deep purple. Few other plants grown from true bulbs will provide flowers over such a long period: a number of the allium species will bloom in spring, others in summer, still others in fall. The common name of onion is shared by most, and indeed most give off an onionlike odor when cut or bruised. The leaves, which lie close to the ground below the leafless flower stalks, are either round and hollow, like those of onions, or flat and straplike. The tall-growing species, standing like sentries, are striking accents in perennial and shrub borders and can be grouped in beds by themselves as conversation pieces; the dwarf species are well suited to rock gardens. All ornamental alliums make excellent cut flowers (the onion odor of the cut stems quickly disappears when they are placed in water). The flower heads of almost all species can be left in the garden and allowed to dry on the stalks, then cut for indoor arrangements.
     Most alliums can be grown throughout Zones 4-10. All species do best in full sun. Plant the bulbs in spring or fall in holes two to three times as deep as the diameters of the bulbs, spacing them 6 to 18 inches apart depending on the ultimate height of the species. Almost any type of garden fertilizer, scratched into the soil around the plants once in the spring shortly after the new growth has begun to emerge, will supply them with sufficient nutrients. Clumps of plants may be left undisturbed for years and dug only when they become too crowded to blossom freely. In Zones 4-5, protect the bulbs from alternate periods of freezing and thawing by applying a winter mulch.
     Propagate after the foliage matures from the small bulbs that develop in the ground around the larger ones, or from the bulbs that appear at the tops of the faded flowers of some species. New plants may be started from seeds, planted as soon as possible after they ripen, but they will take two to three years to reach flowering size.

Allium, Mixed Four varieties of small flowering Allium.

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Site launched January 1, 2000.
Site updated September 1, 2007.