Alluring alliums
DRUMSTICKS, fireworks, exclamation marks and cricket balls are just some of the words used to describe ornamental onions. Cousins of the leek, onion, garlic and chive, these showy plants grow from bulbs planted now in autumn to bloom mainly in May and June next year just as tulips come to an end. Best known is probably ‘Purple Sensation’, an older cultivar cheap to buy and happy to naturalise itself, threading borders with 3ft (1m)-tall stems of purple globes. If you want to avoid self-seeding, deadhead or buy more expensive sterile cultivars that last in flower for longer, usually around six weeks.
The many species of allium originate from Central Asia and the Middle East, where growth
