Alliums for the Flower Garden: Graceful, Deer-Resistant Perennials

Discover the grace and good manners of these under-appreciated perennials

A display at the Chelsea Flower Show shows the diversity of the allium genus.

Purple Sensation allium bridges the gap between spring and early summer perennials.

Beyond the Vegetable Garden

While onions, shallots, and garlic belong in the vegetable patch, ornamental alliums deserve a place in perennial borders. With over 700 species, they offer exquisite beauty in flower and leaf, tough constitutions, and a broad palette of colors, heights, bloom times, and forms. They make excellent cut flowers, take little space, and resist deer, voles, chipmunks, and rabbits.

History & Hardiness

Russian botanists introduced spectacular Central Asian alliums in the late 1800s. British plant hunters soon followed. Today, ornamental alliums are hardy to zone 4, thrive in well-drained soil and full sun, multiply naturally, and are drought-tolerant with no serious pests.

Plant bulbs in fall (order by mail for best selection). Some clump-forming types are sold as potted plants in spring.

Top Varieties

• Purple Sensation: 2–4" purple globes in early June, 24–30" tall.
• Globemaster & Gladiator: Huge globes on 3–4' stems, early-mid June.
• Mount Everest: White, shorter, great with dark foliage.
• Corkscrew allium: Blue-green twisted leaves, late summer bloom.
• Ozawa allium: Pink flowers in Sept–Oct, bees love it.
• Schubert allium: 8" tall, foot-wide exploding pink fireworks.
• Drumstick allium: Burgundy-green heads in early July.
• Yellow allium (Allium flavum): Midsummer, rock garden favorite.

Ozawa allium with asters.

Yellow allium for rock gardens.

Drumstick allium needs support.

Everlasting Alliums can be planted anytime.

Schubert allium at Chelsea Flower Show.