Allium cernuum
Growing Information
• Plant Type: Perennial
• Sunlight: Full to part sun
• Soils: prefers moist, circumneutral pH soils, but is tough and adaptable to drier spots.
• Bloom Time: June-September
• Size: Up to 2 feet tall when flowering.
Pompom-shaped, purple flowers appear on the plant throughout the summer. Seed head begins to droop as it matures, hence the name “nodding” onion. Not as edible as other Allium sp., so best saved for the bees! Can self-seed in ideal conditions and benefits from being divided after a few years. Other native Alliums such as Allium canadense (Wild Garlic) and Allium schoenoprasum (Wild Chives) are a bit tougher, but less showy. Not a Cape Cod native, but native to Long Island and states to the west and south.
Garden Companions
Purple Lovegrass (Eragrostis spectabilis), Butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa), Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum), Asters (Symphyotrichum spp.)
Nature Benefits
• Highly attractive to butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds
Natural Habitat
Dry to moist prairies, stream banks, open woodlands.