Latin for garlic, the "flowering onions" are rabbit, rodent, and deer-resistant, and adored by bees, butterflies, and pollinators. Allium extend the spring flowering season with a dramatic, awe-inspiring presence, after which many varieties stand as dried seed orbs - like shadow garden sculptures. They are valuable cut and dried flowers. They require full sunlight, and rich, well-draining and central pH soil. Allium, Schubertii, "tumbleweed onion", circa 1896, heirloom, has airy, 12" wide umbels of mallow-purple florets on outright, creamy-mauve stems that vary from half inch to 8" long. May/June bloom time. Plant these bulbs 6" to 8" deep and 6" apart. Hardy zone 5-8. Bulb size 14cm and up. Height 16". Quantity of 3 lovely bulbs.
Plant your bulbs once the weather has turned consistently cool, after a killing frost or two, when the soil temperature is below 55 degrees F but well before the ground has frozen. In New England we have had just one frost and the soil is easily worked at this time. So plant a spring garden to look forward to!
Allium, Schubertii is complex and full of interest. It is a horticultural sculpture in your garden.
