How to grow alliums in your garden and when and where is best to plant them
Alliums help attract bees into your garden with their beautiful violet colour. Bees see violet colours better than humans do, making them appear more vibrant and attractive to a bees eyes. Alliums also have large clusters of star shaped flowers, providing an ample food supply for bees, butterflies and other pollinators to enjoy throughout the summer.
There are many varieties of alliums to choose from, but those with the biggest circular heads can attract the most bees, as well as adding the most interest to your borders. Look for types such as Allium globemasters, purple sensation, gladiator and hollandicum. They all boast broad blooms of violet flowers, which span around 20cm across. They will grow to around one meter tall when grown to their full height. They can take 2-4 years to reach their full height after being newly planted, but they are hardy plants that that take little maintenance – making them good for the bees as well as you garden.
When planting allium bulbs, aim for early autumn to get them in the ground. They need full sun, so make sure to find a sunny spot in the middle or back of your border. As the alliums grow quite tall, having a sheltered spot near the fence line will help protect the slender stems from getting broken in the wind.
Alliums need free draining soil, and if planted in wet conditions, the bulbs can rot. Adding some grit to denser soils can help with drainage, but if the soil in your garden is too damp or clay like, alliums will take well to being grown in large pots too. Ensure there’s drainage holes in the bottom of the pot, and add some pebbles or grit to the bottom of large pots to help the soil drain better.
When planting in containers, we recommend using large pots with a mixture of flowers of different heights. This is so when the alliums have finished blooming, you can keep some interest in the pots, which will also help cover the allium foliage when they lose their colour.
Alliums planted in the ground typically won’t need any extra watering, as the rain will provide more than enough. If planted in pots, they will need to be kept moist so that the soil doesn’t get too dry.
Alliums are very low maintenance plants and don’t need to be pruned or deadheaded. The spent flowers will still add interest to your borders even after their colour has gone, due to their unusual pom pom like shaped heads.
Alliums are hardy plants and will survive the winter in the ground without needing any extra care. Alliums in pots could get too cold over winter however, so it’s best to move these into a greenhouse during the coldest part of winter.
Alliums are a great addition to any garden style. Their unique large pom pom flower heads add a pop of colour as well as structure.
Alliums can work really well in modern structural gardens when mixed with tall and feathered grasses, as they have a very architectural quality and add height to borders and grassy areas.
Overall, you can’t really go wrong with alliums, they’re low maintenance and hardy plants that need little extra attention and can overwinter no problem.
Do note that some varieties of alliums can be toxic to dogs and cats, so are best avoided in gardens with pets!
Alliums can be susceptible to slugs and snails, and allium leaf miner flies. To help protect alliums from leave miner flies, you can put netting over the alliums when the flies are active.
Find more bee-friendly plant care guides here.
