alliums – practical and lovely

I have been a big fan of alliums for quite some time. I remember stealing some dried up alliums from an abandoned house and spray painting them gold when I was 14. They look like an overgrown dandelion flower after it’s gone to seed. 

 These babies are so fantastic because they don’t need anything special to thrive.  EXAMPLE:  My neighbors across the street are not yard people.  They don’t have a sprinkler system and never weed.  Their yard right now has about 100 alliums blooming and looking wonderful.  Alliums actually prefer to be on the dry / neglected side.  They come up every spring and will make your heart happy every year.  

I have two types of allium in my yard. My “Purple Sensations” were planted my first autumn that I lived in my house (p.s. always plant alliums in the fall). They are purple and they are sensational. Need I say more?  I always get comments on these because they are so noticeably different then any other plant.

The second is called a “stars of Persia” allium.   This was a rouge bulb that came up one spring and I had no idea what it was until about 2 weeks ago (I feel like an idiot for not classifying this sooner..Duh amy). It has light purple, almost metallic petals and the flowers are larger and more spread out. So beautiful and low maintenance.

There are so many varieties of this plant.  While I’ve been studying up, I think I want to add some more to my collection.  One being the gladiator allium.  It’s the same idea as the purple sensation, just humongous!  I recommend adding these to your life.