Nothing beats the “wow!” power of the ornamental onions for sheer showiness. Pollinators would agree because ornamental onions are magnets for bees, bumble bees and butterflies!
Allium christophii, sometimes called Star of Persia, has 1 inch star-like metallic purple flowers, combined into one large cluster 6 inches across. This ornamental onion has 18 inch long strap-like leaves. Once finished blooming, the leaves gradually die back but the seed heads dry well and look fantastic in dried arrangements.
Bulbs are fall planted for spring blooms. Plant them in an area that gets 6 or more hours of direct uninterrupted sunlight daily. The bulbs will rot if planted into heavy clay that has frequent irrigation, so plan to amend the soil with compost and direct the irrigation heads away from plants.
