Quick Characteristics:
| Height: | 30-45 cm (1-1.5 ft) |
| Flower Colors: | blue |
| Flower Season: | late spring to early summer |
| Life form: | deciduous bulb |
Allium caeruleum Pall. (syn. Allium azureum Ledeb.) is readily available, inexpensive, free flowering and very pretty in the garden. Its native range is from eastern Europe to China. This species, here photographed in the Maryland, USA garden of Jim McKenney in early June 2005, seems to require dry summers to persist from year to year. As the plants get older, the umbels tend to become irregular and bulbiferous. But the wonderful color does not change. The orange flower seen in one of the photographs is the perennial poppy variously known as Papaver atlanticum or P. rupifragum. The poppy and the blue onion make a cheery late spring combination. Photo 3 by M.Gastil-Buhl shows bulbs on a 1 cm grid. Photo 4 by David Pilling displays bulbils in the flower head.
