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Allium Sphaerocephalon

September 4th, 2019

Three years ago I purchased a small pack of bulbs on clearance at a local discount store. I think paid .75 for 25 bulbs. They weren’t labeled with a name, so I searched for them when they bloomed the following summer. Turns our they were Allium Sphaerocephalon.

These beautiful little bulbs are loved by pollinators of all sorts. They naturalize readily, expanding stocks of bulbs each season and blooming more profusely. They grow about two feel tall and the bloombs are about the size of an egg. They start off green and mature to a beautiful dark pink. They’re quite inexpensive to buy, you can get 100 for $10.75 from Van Engelen.

Yesterday, I spent some time harvesting bulbs and moving them into the new pollinator bed by the driveway (more photos of this garden coming soon). I planted them among the hyssop as they have small leaves and the blooms should rise just to the height of the hyssop. This should give me a longer bloom time in this small area, providing twice as much food for the pollinators.

Alliums are becomming a favorite flower around here. I currently grow only four or five different varieties, but hope to add more. Purple Sensation is on my list to buy this fall, I’ve heard a lot of good things about this variety (especially that it returns year after year).

What are you doing in the garden this week? Do you grow alliums? What’s your favorite variety?

One Comment to “Allium Sphaerocephalon”
  1. Ann on September 6, 2019 at 12:39 pm

    Alliums are hit or miss for me here in mid south Tennessee. What they rarely tell us in the catalogs is that some do better in the south, some do fine in the north, some both. But since they don’t really tell us it can be hard to choose.

    But my favorite is allium Shubertii…Alas, it hasn’t been perennial for me here. If I want them next spring, I have to plant new every fall

    Reply to Ann's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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