Alliums: 14 Reasons to Plant This Spring-Flowering Bulb in the Fall

We’re heading into late autumn, and that means peak bulb-planting time. As long as the soil is not frozen, you can plant for next spring and summer. Alliums are one of the most rewarding, and least demanding, of bulbs. As a category these eye-catching flowers offer so much more than the giant purple balls that their name may conjure—although we love those, too. Alliums can be ample or petite, loose or compact, white, near-blue, lilac, pink or purple, native or exotic. They offer flowers for pure ornament, for pollinators, for floral stylists, and for the (supper) table. And the best part? Squirrels and critters don’t eat them. Neither do deer. Mostly. (Deer be deer.)

But here are 14 other reasons to grow Alliums.

Photography by Marie Viljoen.

1. They are perennial.

This may be obvious to experienced gardeners, but the fact that you can plant alliums, walk away, and enjoy them for years to come, is a bonus.

2. Alliums are excellent in pots.

For container gardeners, allium bulbs can be dropped neatly into a pot that is already occupied. I use a narrow hori to make the hole. Plant three to five in a pot (which should be  least 12 inches in diameter), and combine them either with annuals, perennials, or even shrubs. I grow mine with cilantro, sown in spring, and with roses, in large pots.

3. They are meadow-friendly.

In wilder, less formal plantings, alliums can blend with grasses and other species.

4. They offer structure and texture.

Whether low-growing and loose, like A. schubertii, or statuesque on slender stalks, alliums’ signature symmetry offers immediate structure and rhythm within a loose and wild planting, or above a more austere palette, like the hostas above.