(Chives, Cultivated Chives, Garden Chives)

Most know only know chives as a chopped herb sprinkled on salads or added to cream cheese for mild onion flavor and green color, but chives are much more than that. This lovely bulbous perennial produces a bottle brush of fine, cylindrical foliage in spring and becomes topped with beautiful lavender-pink, sometimes white, clover-like flowerheads in late spring or early summer. It is a far-flung and diverse onion that’s native across much of the northern hemisphere, so it has been historically used...

(Chives)

Most know only know chives as a chopped herb sprinkled on salads or added to cream cheese for mild onion flavor and green color, but chives are much more than that. This lovely bulbous perennial produces a bottle brush of fine, cylindrical foliage in spring and becomes topped with beautiful lavender-pink, sometimes white, clover-like flowerheads in late spring or early summer. It is a far-flung and diverse onion that’s native across much of the northern hemisphere, so it has been historically used...

(Chives)

Chives are a bulbous perennial grown primarily for their edible, pungent, dark-green foliage. As a bonus, pale purple clover-like edible flower heads bloom from spring to summer. Profusion chives bear an abundance of sterile flowers which last longer than those of other forms.

Plant the bulbs in fertile, well drained soil at a depth two to three times their width. Once established, chives tolerate some drought. Lift and divide the clumps only when they become crowded. The leaves can be chopped...

(Sand Leek)

A variable plant that can be either a beautiful ornamental or a vicious weed, this hardy bulbous perennial comes from Europe, Iran, and the Caucasus.

Growing from a small, ovoid, tawny-coated bulb, this sometimes ornamental onion has stubby grass-like leaves that clasp the base of the solitary, short to tall flowering stem. A compact, spherical cluster of purple or lilac flowers crowns the stem in late spring and early summer, attracting bees and butterflies. In some forms of this onion, small...

(Siberian Onion)

The Siberian onion, a bulbous perennial, is grown for its tiny umbels of cup-shaped pale to mid purple flowers, which bloom from mid to late summer. The flower stalks emerge from a basal clump of short, grassy leaves. Alliums belong to the onion family and thus all have the familiar pungent fragrance when their leaves or stems are crushed. The Siberian onion is native to Europe and northern Asia, where it grows in full sun and well-draining, often sandy soil.

In the fall, plant this bulb two...

(Blue Siberian Onion)

Named for its spiraling blue-gray leaves, this North Asian native is also noted for its small dense umbels of cup-shaped lilac-pink flowers, which bloom from mid to late summer. The finger-length, flattened, strap-shaped leaves appear in spring and remain attractive all season. They emit an onion scent when crushed. The leaves and flower stems grow from narrow bulbs clustered on a shallow rhizome.

Blue Siberian onion prefers sun and well-drained soil and tolerates drought once established. Lift...

(Siberian Onion)

One of the few ornamental onions to bloom in late summer, this native of Europe and Central Asia bears small dense umbels of cup-shaped lilac-pink flowers on compact stems. The grassy, pungently scented leaves appear in spring and remain green all season. The leaves and flower stems grow from narrow bulbs clustered on a shallow rhizome.

Siberian onion prefers sun and well-drained soil and tolerates drought once established. Lift and divide the clumps only when they become crowded. Grow this diminutive...

(Blue-flowered Ornamental Onion)

This ornamental onion, a bulbous perennial, is grown for its tiny loose umbels of bright blue or white bell-shaped nodding flowers, which bloom in early summer. The flower stalks emerge from a basal clump of long, green twisted leaves. Alliums belong to the onion family and thus all have the familiar pungent fragrance when their leaves or stems are crushed. This ornamental onion is native to China, Tibet, Nepal, and India where it grows in full sun and well-draining, often sandy soil.

In the...

(Drumstick Onion, Round-headed Garlic)

The drumstick onion, a bulbous perennial, is grown for its dense, egg-shaped clusters of small, greenish-pink to dark-red flowers, which bloom in the summer on tall flower stalks that emerge from a basal clump of long, linear green leaves. When crushed, the leaves and stems have the familiar, pungent fragrance of the onion family. The drumstick onion is native to Europe, Africa, and Asia, where it grows in full sun and well-drained, often sandy soil.

In the fall, plant this bulb a hand’s width...

(Ramps, Wild Leek)

This is an enormous and diverse plant genus. The onion family contains about 1250 species of herbaceous bulbous or rhizomatous plants that can be found across north temperate climates worldwide. All are perennials and cultivated forms are either grown for their ornamental flowers and foliage or as crops that yield edible greens and bulbs, such as onion, garlic, chive and leek. Species may be deciduous or evergreen and some are ephemeral.

Ornamental onions run the gamut from tiny groundcovers...