Tag: Alliums

10 Plant Partnerships That Will Triple Your Harvest (Gardeners Shocked!) –
I learned that one simple gardening trick can boost harvests quickly while cutting pest numbers almost in half. The trick is companion planting: nature’s way of helping plants work better together.

After many seasons of trial and error, this method turned my weak veggie beds into a healthy, busy garden in no time.

No need to stress about fancy layouts. These 10 plant partners work well with little effort. Ready to match plants the easy way? Let’s go.

Plant Partners That Work Wonders

1. Tomatoes & Basil: A Reliable Match

This pair isn’t just delicious on the plate. Basil’s strong smell helps keep away pests like aphids and hornworms that usually bother tomatoes.

Growing them together can even make tomatoes taste better. (Seriously. My tomatoes tasted so much better once I planted basil beside them.)

2. Carrots & Onions: A Simple Defense

Carrot flies can wipe out a crop fast, but onions help block them. In return, carrots help loosen the soil for onion bulbs. They just work well together.

3. Corn & Beans: The Old “Three Sisters” Duo

This old planting method makes sense. Beans add nitrogen to the soil, which corn needs. The corn stalks give the beans something to climb. It’s a natural setup that works smoothly.

4. Cucumbers & Nasturtiums: The Decoy

Nasturtiums act like bait, pulling pests like aphids and beetles away from cucumbers. They also have pretty flowers that you can eat with a pepper-like taste.

5. Peppers & Marigolds: Root Protectors

A common mistake is planting peppers without help. Marigold roots release compounds that chase away nematodes that damage pepper roots.

Some studies show that marigolds can reduce nematode populations by up to 90%. Their blooms look nice, too.

6. Lettuce & Radishes: Soil Helpers

Radishes break up compacted soil, allowing lettuce roots to grow deeper. This makes lettuce stronger on hot and dry days. Radishes also grow fast, so you get an early harvest while waiting for your lettuce.

7. Squash & Borage: Bee Magnets

Squash needs more bees, and borage attracts them. These bright blue flowers pull in loads of pollinators and help keep pests away from squash. Knowing this pairing gives you better fruit.

8. Potatoes & Horseradish: A Surprise Team

This pair sounds odd, but it works. Horseradish contains natural compounds that help keep potatoes strong and beetles away. Plant horseradish at the corners of the potato bed for protection.

9. Strawberries & Thyme: Berry Guards

Slugs love strawberries, but thyme helps stop them with its strong scent. Thyme also acts as ground cover, keeping berries off the soil and reducing fungal problems. Simple and smart.

10. Cabbage & Dill: Friendly Bug Attractors

Dill doesn’t chase pests. Instead, it brings in helpful insects like ladybugs and lacewings that eat cabbage worms. It’s like having tiny guards watching over your cabbages.

Why Companion Planting Works

Companion planting is more than old advice. It’s backed by how plants interact. They use scents and root signals to communicate with one another. The results can be big:
- Less pest damage, fewer sprays
- Better pollination
- Grow more in small spaces
- Better soil use
- Shade where needed
When you match plants well, everything grows better together.

How To Start

Try just two or three partner groups this season. Watch how plant health, pest problems, and harvest amounts change.

Remember: it’s not just about putting plants next to each other. It’s about letting them support each other. Keep them close but not crowded; about 12–18 inches apart works for most pairs.

With the right partners, your garden becomes a group that works together instead of single plants growing alone. That’s the goal for most of us anyway.
Gary Antosh

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November 2, 2025
A Westchester Garden Designed by Landscape Designer Ashley Lloyd

Oftentimes landscape designers are called in to execute a one-time overhaul or to create an instant landscape for a site that’s been ravaged by construction. Every once in a while, though, they’re enlisted for more nuanced work, such as when a mature garden needs a new steward and editor. The “before and after” results may not be as dramatic, but the process of refinement can take a garden from good to great. Such was the case when landscape designer and ISA-certified arborist Ashley Lloyd, of Lloyd Landwright, was brought in to usher a garden in lower Westchester into its next chapter.

The garden had been lovingly designed and tended by a fine gardener for many years, but after his departure, weeds had overtaken the property and much of the perennial layer had been lost during construction projects, including a new retaining wall. “The goal was to create layered texture, seasonal contrast, and movement—and to design with the garden’s future evolution in mind,” Lloyd says.

Arriving as the homeowners were in the midst of rethinking the garden, ended up being a gift. “I had time to observe the land—its microclimates, light shifts, drainage patterns—and respond accordingly,” Lloyd says. Building on the existing palette of shrubs and evergreens, she brought in more native and pollinator plants and created moments that would consistently surprise and delight the clients. She also designed dozens of seasonal planters and new outdoor lighting.

Through her years of working on this garden, Lloyd learned that “the best design happens in relationship and collaboration with the land and not from a fixed plan,” she says. Lloyd recently relocated to the West Coast, handing this garden off to its next steward in much better shape than she found it.

Take a tour of the resulting garden, a layered landscape that evolves through the seasons.

Photography by Kyle J Caldwell.

Above: “This wasn’t a ‘look but don’t touch’ garden,” says Lloyd. Rather, it was designed to invite interaction, with the client choosing to leave the front garden unfenced, so neighbors could enjoy it too. However, no fencing meant intense deer pressure, so Lloyd focussed her plant palette on those that were unpalatable to deer, including floss flower and allium. “Grasses, including sesleria, really knit everything together there,” she says.

Above: Lloyd says she tries to place plants that deer don’t like around plants they prefer; for example, lamb’s ear and allium are positioned to protect asters. As part of a local Pollinator Pathway, the garden is pesticide-free and designed to support bees, birds, and butterflies.

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August 19, 2025
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.

Above: Once planted, expect alliums to return, year after year.

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.

Above: In small gardens like mine, alliums offer vertical interest without hogging valuable space.

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.

Above: Allium schubertii is seen from above while meadow grasses are still young, in early May.

Above: Allium obliquum‘s twisted stems on New York’s High Line.

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

4. They offer structure and texture.

Above: A constellation of stars behind the beaded seedpods of sea kale.

Above: A smoothly fat allium with feathered wormwood.

Above: A sea of pleated hosta leaves with tall white alliums in the Conservancy Gardens at Battery Park, New York.

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.

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November 4, 2024
Designer Visit: Sheila Jack’s White Garden in West London – Gardenista

A career in art direction is a useful grounding for anybody wishing to go into garden design. Sheila Jack’s career shift was not so much a break as a continuum—of research, editing, and presentation. Before designing the pages of Vogue magazine, her first job was for the architect Norman Foster, and these visual strands from the past feed into her present-day career as a landscape designer.

We visit the project which turned Sheila’s design ideas into something more three-dimensional: her own urban garden.

Photography by Britt Willoughby Dyer for Gardenista, except where noted.

Above: A work studio faces the house in Sheila Jack’s garden in Hammersmith, London.

“When we installed my husband’s garden studio, we needed to create a pathway to it,” explains Sheila of the garden’s layout. “Our children were beyond the need for lawn, so there was scope to include more planting.”

Above: Photograph by Sheila Jack.

I first met Sheila by the photocopying machine at Tatler magazine, several decades ago. Amid the madness, Sheila stood out as a beacon of clarity, in a crisp white shirt. A few years later I spotted Sheila, ever crisp, at 444 Madison Avenue, a recent arrival at Condé Nast in New York. While I failed to take my job on the 17th floor seriously, Sheila worked hard downstairs, in the scary offices of Vogue. Fast-forwarding a few years, she suddenly appeared on Instagram, with beautifully composed pictures of gardens, in focus. How had she got from there to here?

Above: Sheila’s London garden of mainly green and white.

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June 7, 2024
Deborah Needleman: An Interview about Gardening with the Editor-Turned-Basket Weaver

Chances are high that over the last two decades, you’ve been influenced at least once by Deborah Needleman, even if you’ve never heard of her. At different times over a long stretch starting in the early aughts, she helmed three of the most influential trendsetting publications in the country: domino (which she founded), followed by WSJ (the Wall Street Journal’s monthly magazine), and later T: The New York Times Style Magazine. Before she was a style arbiter, though, she was a garden editor (House & Garden) and columnist (Slate). And now, she’s returned to her first love—the world of plants. “It’s been ages since I was a garden writer and constantly immersed in the world of gardening. But now my days again revolve around being immersed in nature and making things from it—gardens and baskets, including basketry things for the garden like plant tuteurs, cloches, and trugs,” says Deborah, who spends most of her time now at her country home in the Hudson Valley. “I’m just so happy to back mucking around in the garden and in the woods.”

Below, she makes the case for non-natives in the garden (when they make sense), Okatsune secateurs (“better than Felcos”), and an all-white gardening outfit (we’re now converts).

Photography courtesy of Deborah Needleman, unless otherwise noted.

Above: Deborah, in her sitting room, surrounded by flowers, both real and man-made: painting of tulips by Luke Edward Hall, watercolor of nasturtium by Emma Tennant, porcelain hyacinth by Vladimir Kanevsky. Photograph by Lily Weisberg.

Your first garden memory:

Not a garden, but the wild woods at the edge of the newly built suburb where I grew up. It felt like entering the private, backstage area you weren’t supposed to see, because everything around it was neat and manicured and without drama or mystery. And years later, when I first heard the term “landscape architecture,” it opened my mind to the idea of designing spaces from the materials of nature. A total revelation. I wanted to make places that incorporated wildness and unpredictability within the bounds of a structure.

Garden-related book you return to time and again:

I most often go back to Henry Mitchell’s The Essential Earthman, essays from his old column in The Washington Post. He was a colleague of mine in the ’90s–erudite, hilarious, eccentric, and wildly opinionated. He was offended by the idea of “low maintenance” gardens, and adored ephemeral plants and flowers, as those are the ones that have the power to break your heart. He would take the day off work when his bearded irises bloomed.

Describe in three words your garden aesthetic.

Nature coaxed into atmosphere.

Above: Deborah’s mostly cultivated, slightly wild garden in Garrison, NY.

Instagram account that inspires you:

@giardino_di_hera.

Plant that makes you swoon:

I’m crazy for spires like verbascum and foxglove. And I also love an umbellifer–Queen Anne’s lace, ammi, angelica.

Above: A gorgeous jumble of Verbascum ‘Southern Charm’, nepeta, and allium in her gravel garden.

Plant that makes you want to run the other way:

I don’t go in much for leaves that are red or yellow or variegated as they often look sickly or like they’re trying too hard to make a point. And I’ve often thought that if forsythia didn’t flower so early, probably no one would countenance that beastly yellow later in the season when there are so many other things to delight us. This season I realized I’d had enough of its shaggy demeanor and clashing jolt of brightness against the soft, subtle colors of early spring. They’re getting evicted as soon as I have a moment.

Favorite go-to plant:

Boxwood balls. They seem to solve almost every garden problem.

Above: Boxwood balls make an appearance in Deborah’s vegetable patch.

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May 12, 2024
A Garden from Scratch: How to Prepare the Bed and Plant It

So you’re finally ready to plant up an area of your garden. How do you ensure you’re giving your plants the best possible start? In part 5 of my series on making A Garden from Scratch (scroll to the bottom for the other installments), I look at one border in my own garden and explain how I prepared it and put it together.

1. Get the timing right.

Above: What I started with. This was a tired lavender walk that needed a lot of plants replaced and was interspersed with climbing roses. I wanted a more substantial border as this was also a key view through the garden, so I removed everything except for the established ‘Blush Noisette’ rose on the right-hand side of the border.

Autumn and spring are perfect times to get a border planted, giving plants a chance to settle and send out roots when soil is likely to be warm and moist. Because I am nearly always running behind, the new border here would eventually go into the ground in early May. It’s not ideal timing as they need a lot more attention and irrigation if there is prolonged hot weather, but in reality it’s feasible to plant perennials at any time the ground is not frozen—just be prepared to keep an eye on them in summer.

Make sure you have all your plants gathered, ready for planting. If you are buying plants and want to keep costs down, know that 9-cm plants will be the most economical, while 1-liter or 2-liter plants will provide more instant impact. That said, those small plants will have caught up with the larger plants within one season and definitely within two seasons. If you’ve got time, growing some of the plants from seeds or cuttings will be the most economical of all. You can also divide plants from elsewhere in the garden, too, creating more plants for free. (See Your First Garden: How to Start a Garden for Practically Free for other ideas.)

2. Enrich the soil.

Above: Preparing the planting area.

I widened the existing border as much as I could while still leaving a path through the middle. At this point it can feel like there’s a lot of space, but once plants mature and grow over the edges this central path will narrow considerably. As this area has poor very free-draining soil, I dug in well-rotted manure through the whole border to prepare it for planting; whatever your soil type, the most beneficial thing you can do at the outset is to add as much compost as you can to enrich the soil.

3. Lay out the plants.

Above: Laying out the plants.

Place all of your plants along the border where you think you’ll want to plant them. Then spend some time considering how the plants will look as they grow. Think about how wide they will spread and allow enough space for plants to grow (check the plant label for approximate dimensions). Group perennials together in threes or loose triangles which will create more impact with blocks and color. What you are trying to create is a naturalistic feeling rather than regimented order. (See A Garden from Scratch: How to Choose Plants and Put Them Together for my tips on plant composition.)

Repeat some plants through the length of the border to help create rhythm. In this border, Alchemilla mollis, Geranium ‘Rozanne’ and Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foester’ are repeated down the length of the bed. And leave space for self seeders—over time, if you prefer a more naturalistic look and you’re happy to encourage self-seeders, your border will fill out with these volunteer plants. This border has several self-seeders, especially Salvia turkestanica, Digitalis parviflora and D. ferruginea gigantea, and occasionally Baptisia australis and Alchemilla mollis, creating free plants and a more abundant and lush border.

4. Get digging.

Above: Finally, ready to plant.

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May 2, 2024
A Garden from Scratch: How to Choose the Plants and Put Them Together

After all the planning for the garden layout is done, being able to buy (or grow) your plants feels like something of a victory, the fun bit when you can finally get to see a garden taking shape. In my previous column in this series on making “A Garden from Scratch,” I broached the bigger picture of the types of plants you might want to consider for your garden. In this column I get up close to the plants themselves and investigate what to choose and how to put it all together.

Your own tastes are key here—it’s all very well meticulously planning, but ultimately you want to step into a garden full of things you love. (A chaotic jumble, in fact, can feel just as magical as a considered design—often more so.) Ideally as you plan your garden you will have drawn up a wishlist of everything you love that will also thrive in your garden conditions. The goal for most gardeners is to find a space for as many of the plants on that list as possible.

Below, my tips on how to choose your plants wisely.

Photography by Clare Coulson.

1. Sketch a planting plan.

Above: This border has a line of Chanticleer pear trees and is enclosed by copper beech hedge. The borders are filled with perennials in blue and apricots, including Geranium ‘Rozanne’, Baptisia australis, hardy geraniums, and Iris pallida, as well as textural grasses and hydrangeas for later in the season.

If I’m planting a big area from scratch, I draw out a flat plan that roughly marks out the plants, taking into consideration both how those plants will look mingling next to each other and how much space they will ultimately need. It’s not an exact scale drawing but an approximation of the size (height and spread) I think a plant could take up. If you’re not familiar with the plant, you can usually get a good sense of its growth habit and mature appearance from its nursery label.

2. Put perennials on repeat.

Above: The same border seen from the opposite direction. Alchemilla mollis, catmint, and pennisetum are repeated all along the border, which makes it feel visually cohesive. Peppered between them are plants with a shorter season, including alliums, camassia, foxgloves, asters, and hydrangeas.

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April 2, 2024
Garden from Scratch: How to Choose the Type of Plants You Need in Your Landscape

You’d think choosing plants was easy enough—just find the ones you like, right? And for single specimens in a pot or a monoculture of, say. roses or hydrangeas, it is as simple as that.

But what about designing a border where plants need to relate to each other in a well-thought-out design? And what if you have a large blank canvas to fill with a whole range of plants. This is when it can get a little more complicated. For the third post in my column on creating A Garden From Scratch, I tackle how to figure out the kind of plants you might want in your landscape. Before you get too excited, let me clarify that I’m not talking about choosing specific plants here; this is about the bigger, long-term picture of how to put plants together in a space and why.

(To read my earlier stories in the Garden from Scratch series, go here, then here.)

Photography by Clare Coulson.

Above: Where to even begin? My cottage garden, photographed here in midsummer, is an ever-changing tableau of favorite plants and supporting acts that lurk in the background. It’s always good to remember when you start out that plants can be moved, replaced, or relocated and that the picture is never final or complete—there’s always something that can be tweaked or improved—and that is half the enjoyment of gardening.

1. Get trees in first.

Above: Early spring in my garden and there’s still not that much flowering, but the Amelanchier lamarckii tree provides starry white blossoms. By the time the spring bulbs really get going, the pretty bronze foliage of this tree will emerge providing an interesting contrast with the bright colors below. Additional structure here comes from the domed forms of Choisya ternata, hebes and Ilex crenata. In the distance, a lot of euphorbia.

Planting design is about a series of layers, from the woody plants, including trees and climbers, to the shrubs, herbaceous perennials, biennials, and annuals. Most gardens will have a mix of all of these types of plants to create a succession of interest throughout the year, and a balance of structural plants that will provide a backdrop to herbaceous plants that will flower and die back.

It’s logical to begin with the trees since they generally need the most time to mature. They are also arguably the most important thing to get right, being the least ephemeral. Incorporating some trees, or even a single specimen, can instantly ground a space, bringing strong structure, height, and impact—as well as, in many cases, year-round interest. For this same reason think very carefully before removing any mature trees or shrubs from an inherited space.

It’s the one place perhaps where it’s worth spending some money to buy something really beautiful—a trio of Amelanchier or Prunus multi-stem or specimen trees, for example, may feel like a big investment, but it will have instant impact, as well as blossoms in spring, lush foliage through summer, and then great leaf color later in the year. In winter its form has its own allure. Tip: Buy young trees—they are far more economical and will usually settle in faster than mature specimens. Buying bareroot plants also helps to keep down costs.

2. Invest in evergreens.

Above: Controlled chaos. There are a lot of frothy plants in this border snapshot including Valerian officinalis, hesperis, roses, Allium sphaerocephalon, catmint, and hardy geraniums. But the structure from clipped boxwood, hebes, and other foliage helps to ground the space and provide moments of contrast.

Another worthwhile investment: evergreen forms that will provide four-season structure. Boxwood would have ticked all the boxes, but now that these are under the dual threat of box blight and box caterpillar, few gardeners would take a risk with them. There are plenty of alternatives—yew, Ilex crenata, many pittosporums, rosemary, hebes, daphnes can all be grown into shapes that will provide permanent year-round forms and act as a foil to herbaceous plants. Deciduous plants like beech and hornbeam can also provide structure, too. (See Landscaping 101: Boxed in by Boxwood? 5 Shrubs to Try Instead.)

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March 5, 2024
Field Garlic Naan: A No-Knead Feral Recipe Inspired by Classic Butter Naan
Above: Naans in cross section: cooked in 3 minutes.

Above: A trayful of hot field garlic naan, ready to be devoured.

Field Garlic Naan

Makes 6 to 8

A platter of field garlic naan could stand alone as a meal, but the breads are an exceptional partner for eggs, soups, beans stews, dhals, curries and curry riffs, like butter chicken. A cast iron skillet or plancha (griddle) is indispensable here, allowing for very high, evenly distributed heat, which creates those wonderful charred spots that make genuine naan—cooked in a fiery tandoor—instantly recognizable. The cast iron should be well seasoned, because we’re not adding oil to the skillet, for this baking method. The naan should be eaten right away, while still warm. If you must, you can make the naan ahead; just reheat for 3 minutes in a 400-degree oven before serving, and do the butter-drench after re-heating.

Bread
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons yeast
- 2 Tablespoons yogurt
- 1 Tablespoon milk
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup warm water
- 3 Tablespoons melted, unsalted butter
- 1 ¼ teaspoons salt
Field Garlic Butter
- ¼ cup melted butter
- ¼ cup snipped field garlic
For the naan: Combine the flour, yeast, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl whisk together the yogurt, milk, egg, water, and melted butter.

Make a well in the flour, and pour the wet mixture into it. Mix everything together until nothing is dry. Transfer the dough to a clean, lightly buttered bowl and cover with a damp kitchen towel. Leave it in a warm place (I use the microwave–just don’t turn it on accidentally!), for about 1 ½ hours, until it has doubled in size. (A buttered finger-poke should leave a dent; if the dent fills in, leave it to rise some more.)

Place the dough on a very lightly floured surface. Using a bench scraper or large knife, cut the into 6 – 8 equal pieces. Form each into a ball.

Place the balls on a lightly-floured tray, dust with a little flour, and cover loosely with a kitchen towel. Allow them to rise for about 20 to 25 minutes (it will take longer in a cold room) until risen by about 50 percent.

Before you shape, heat your cast iron skillet to smoking point. In a small pot melt your butter with half the field garlic over low heat. Keep in reserve.

To shape the naan: I like elongated naan. Put a ball of dough on your lightly-floured work surface, flatten with your palm, and dimple the surface outward with your fingers. Then stretch gently to elongate, to about 8 inches long. As soon as each naan is shaped, lay it in your smoking-hot griddle or pan. You should be able to cook two, maybe three, at one time. Cook on one side for no more than 1 to 1 ½ minutes. The top will develop bubbles, and the underside, when you flip it, should be charred in spots. Cook the other side for 1 minute or a few seconds more, if the sides seem undercooked. You may need to turn the heat down a touch if the charring is happening too fast. As each naan is cooked, transfer it to a plate, brush with the waiting field garlic butter and cover with a clean kitchen towel folded over them to keep warm. Repeat with the rest of the dough balls.

When all the breads are ready, pour any residual butter over the top and add a flurry of the remaining field garlic. Dig in!

See also:

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February 5, 2024