Part of the
You Can Learn Landscaping and Gardening series.
By Ken Brown
Editor, YouCanLearnSeries.com
Updated: June 12, 2005
Allium or FLowering Onions are grown for their huge rounded flowers. The
allium comes in a range of colors, purple, white, pink or yellow. Flowering
onions can be found in different sizes from the 4 foot tall Giant Onion with 6
inch balls of flowers to a 6 inch variety known as the Lily Leek. Their blooms
only last for 2 weeks during the late spring - early summer period.
You should plant in full sun in well drained areas. After the flower is
finished blooming you can cut the flower stalk. Leave the leaves on the plant
to help feed the bulb for next year. The allium requires little care once the
plant is established.
When the leaves turn yellow, you can cut them down at ground level. The allium
is a bulb. Each year smaller bulbs grow around the parent bulb. You can gently
lift the plant out of the ground and remove the smaller bulbs if the plant
becomes crowded. The smaller bulbs can be planted elsewhere or given to
friends.
My neighbor claims that the little 4 legged ground squirrels don't like to eat
the plant because it is an onion.
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