Nodding Onion (Allium cernuum)

from $3.50

Nodding Onion is easy to grow and will gradually spread by seed and offshoots. The bees love it and it blooms a bit later, so it keeps those bees fed! The nectar and pollen of the nodding flowers attract primarily bees, including honeybees, bumblebees, Anthophorine bees, and Halictid bees (illinoiswildflower.info). Mammalian herbivores tend to avoid the Allium spp. in general because of the pungent smell/flavor when bruised.

Photo credit: Patrick Alexander

Size:

Nodding Onion is easy to grow and will gradually spread by seed and offshoots. The bees love it and it blooms a bit later, so it keeps those bees fed! The nectar and pollen of the nodding flowers attract primarily bees, including honeybees, bumblebees, Anthophorine bees, and Halictid bees (illinoiswildflower.info). Mammalian herbivores tend to avoid the Allium spp. in general because of the pungent smell/flavor when bruised.

Photo credit: Patrick Alexander

Life Cycle: Perennial

Sun Exposure: Full-Partial sun

Soil Moisture: Medium/wet-Medium/dry

Height: 1-2 feet

Plant Spacing: 4-8 inches

Bloom Time: July - August

Bloom Color: Purple

Advantages: Pollinator Favorite, Deer Resistant, Rain Garden, Edible, Vigorous

Beneficial insects: Syrphid Flies

Complementary Plants: Butterfly weed, Purple Prairie Clover, Hoary Vervain, Wild Petunia, Blue Grama, Purple Coneflower, Prairie Phlox, Culver’s Root, Obedient Plant, Rattlesnake Master, Switch grass

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