Here is another gardening article by Jonathan Wild from our own SE10 Magazine. Without them the French would be soup-less and as for us, can you imagine Hot Dogs sans onions or, God forbid, tripe without an onion or two to enrich the experience? No? Exactly! Ditto, I find it hard
to imagine a situation out in the borders where ornamental onions (or Alliums to give them their official title) wouldn’t be served up as an essential ingredient or, at the very least, an important side- order in any early summer display. They are such stylish and easy plants and available in a wide variety of shapes and sizes – no serious Chelsea garden would be without them, so why not try a few in your own garden?
Alliums are one of those Jekyll and Hyde plants that can be used in virtually any style of planting, from ultra-contemporary alongside neatly clipped topiary to naturalistic plots with soft grasses and Alchemilla. Their statuesque, wand-like flower stems make fantastic ‘punctuation marks’ through a border and their flowers come in a broad range of colours, from whites and yellows through to soft pinks and deep purples. However, apart from their relatively unattractive leaves (which can be easily hidden with other low-growing plants) every other part of the flowering cycle is attractive - especially the buds which in some varieties take on the form of Shepherds crooks!
However, it’s not just our Gallic neighbours and tripe aficionados that make a bee-line for onions
- their flowers are utterly brilliant for attracting butterflies, bees and every other pollinator from miles around. Each globular flower head is made up of hundreds of florets jam packed with nectar and, when in full flower, they are literally covered
in insects of all shapes and sizes. Ironically, as
a plant, they don’t seem to be bothered by the usual pestilence that affects other bulbous plants - probably because sap-sucking baddies’ tastes run to things less pungent! They are also as easy as pie to grow; all they need is a free-draining spot in the sun and you can pick up the bulbs from any garden centre for planting in September and October. The major problem, though, is trying to choose from all the varieties on offer these days, as their popularity soars amongst gardeners in the know and more and more exciting hybrids are created to satisfy demand.
My Desert Island Disc choices would be some of the more diverse varieties, including a new one called Red Mohican which shoots up slender stems to over 1.5m which are capped by fantastic green flower heads with a tuft of red hair on top. Equally tall, but featuring massive round heads of mauve flowers, is Globemaster which can look amazing growing through an under-planting of other flowers. The picture shows Globemaster used on a large- scale planting - demonstrating just what can be achieved from a bag of humble onion bulbs!
Another beauty which I grew for the first time this year is Allium Miami which has classy flowers
on tall stems in a rich shade of claret - highly recommended, especially if you plant it surrounded by grey or silver leaved plants such as Lavender and Artemesia. The flowers on mine have been out for at least 3 weeks and don’t show any signs of giving up just yet! The intensely blue Allium Caeruleum and the weird and whacky Allium Hair, which has incredible tangles of green ‘hairs’ instead of florets, are both worth looking out for. Last but not least on my list of essentials, are two of the most popular ‘onions’ in gardens - Allium Purple Sensation, which is a really dependable and impactful variety, plus good old Chives, which not only look lovely in the garden but taste good too.
So, please remember, an onion is not just for the pot in the kitchen - they are perfect for the terracotta version on the patio as well!
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