The gardening world has gone mad for alliums (Allium spp.) and their colorful rounded blooms. Otherwise known as ornamental onions, these deer- and rabbit-resistant flowers are easy to grow. Alliums come in a wide assortment of colors, sizes, and blooming times. You can have different allium varieties blooming in your garden from spring through fall. Please note that the flowers do not have an onion smell. The foliage, however, will give off an oniony scent when crushed. Pollinators don’t mind—the clustered umbel flowers are a favorite of bees, butterflies, and other beneficial insects.
Looking like little birthday balloons, alliums add a little whimsy to your flower garden. With so many varieties, where do you start? I suggest the summer-blooming Allium ‘Millenium’ with its globes of rose-pink flowers that cover the plant. It won the PPA 2018 Perennial Plant of the Year. ‘Millenium’ has deep green grassy foliage about 6 to 8 inches tall. Its flower stems rise 15 to 20 inches above the foliage in July to August, and it grows in clumps. It likes full sun but will tolerate a little shade. Allium ‘Millenium’ can be planted during the growing season. It goes well with Japanese anemones, salvia, and coneflowers. It is suitable for USDA hardiness zones 5–8.
Alliums come in oval, spherical, or domed flower shapes. Some varieties have blooms like loose fireworks such as Allium cernuum, commonly called nodding wild onion. It is a Northeastern native plant with clusters of small, bell-shaped, dangling lilac-colored florets. The umbel flower nods down, and so the flowers that appear in early summer are best seen when planted in a mass on a slope. It grows 18 inches tall and has a long bloom period. Mix with short grasses or perennials in a sunny, well-drained area. This allium is deer resistant, and it is suitable for USDA hardiness zones 4–8.
The hardy salvia hybrid ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ (Salvia × sylvestris ‘Rhapsody in Blue’) blooms in profusion at the remarkable Coastal Maine Botanical Garden. This clump-forming perennial grows to 18 to 24 inches tall with brilliant blue-violet spike flowers in early summer. It is very effective in drifts, as shown here. Zones 4–8.