Allium “Globemaster” and allium “Gladiator” are a favorite in our home garden because of their over three feet sturdy stems and almost human head-size flowers. They smell, yes, but we can forgive them that because of their imposing look and appeal.
Allium “Gladiator” We use these towering, big-headed alliums as accent plants to highlight their unique and huge purple flowers. We plant them in clusters to provide even more dramatic impact, providing depth and texture.
Add the fact that the flowers are unaffected by rain or wind, and pests or diseases don’t seem to affect them.
They have a very long appeal. From the time the buds shoot up in early summer from the 2 to 3 ft sturdy green stalks looking like a long-handled tulip or magician’s wand, to the weeks of the full opening of the purple round blooms, to the dried golden brown seed heads that look like mini Sputnik space satellites standing straight till October, the flowers of these alliums look truly appealing and immensely captivating.
Perhaps the downside to these alliums are the long strap-like leaves that start to brown and die after the peak of the bloom — and yes, of course, the smell. But maybe that’s even good, so the focus is nothing else but on the blooms. The dying or browned leaves can be hidden amongst other plants, so we plant our alliums by the weeping Japanese maple and amongst the heathers and Japanese hakonechloa grass whose cascading golden foliage nicely hides the dying or dead allium leaves.
Allium “Globemaster”
We’ve seen neighbors plant the alliums at the back of their mixed perennial border to add distinctive shape and texture. In contrast, we plant ours in the front garden right close to the corner streets for easy visibility, figuratively right on the viewers’ faces but far enough from their noses. It’s like, if you have them flaunt them, just don’t allow the viewers a whiff of the onion smell.
The blooms even come in shades of purple — purple and blue being our favorite flower colors — so they blend with almost any flower color in our garden. As cut flowers, they last long and show extremely well, if not only for that characteristic smell.
They are perennials, and the bulbs get larger through the years, allowing us to split the over-size bulbs for planting another clump of the alliums. As such, they have the potential to naturalize in our garden if left undisturbed for a few years.
They are very easy to grow. It’s almost like: dig a hole, plunk the bulbs in, cover, and wait for the magic to unfold in May till October. One year we accidentally left the seed heads all winter long to be nicely surprised by the giant snowballs that the seed heads create when it snows that winter.
Alliums belong to the onion family, so they are as easy to grow and long-lived as chives or those green onions for food flavoring and seasoning. They tolerate poor soil, dry soil, and sandy soil; they’re happy in any soil, except water-logged since continuous contact with water can rot the bulbs.
Ornamental alliums come in a few varieties. There’s Allium “Graceful” with bright white flowers speckled in purple at 2-3 inches across. Allium “Ping Pong” is a pure white roughly the size… wait, wait…. of ping pong balls atop 18 inches of perky stalk. “Blue Drumstick” is more like dark lavender or light purple than actually blue 1-2 inches across. The “Summer Drummer” has 8-inch purple-tipped white flowers. But what it lacks in flower size it compensates for by towering at over five feet. The blooms do resemble a drummer’s stick, or more like a band majorette’s baton with only one pompom tip.
Allium Schubertii Another favorite of ours is the “Schubertii,” with tiny star-shaped flowers shooting out from the center creating a head given a funky Mohawk haircut as much as 18 inches across. Runner-up favorites are the “Fireworks” with loose, floppy flower clusters that do look like falling fireworks; and they come in purple, yellow, and white.
Alliums do come in a variety of heights, colors, and even blooming habits. Don't smell them, but you definitely will enjoy their structural look and long-lasting presence in your garden.
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