Allium  cernuum – nooding onion – Amaryllidaceae family

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Class summary: Mostly found on the west coast of North America. Good to eat, pink to lavender flowers. Bumbles bee and honey bees love this plant and it attracts our native bee. Annual but it self seeds, good on a slope with well-drained sandy soil. Doesn’t need irrigation – zero scape. Good in window container too. 2 month flowering.

Site: Dry to medium well drained soil in sun or light shade. Zone 4-8. Found in Mexico to Canada. Usually grows to about a foot tall with purple flowers that bloom June to August. Found in open meadows or underneath Douglas fir trees. Onion/chive leaves that are green. Rock gardens, borders or naturalized areas. Attracts butterflies.

Aesthetic: the form is simple, elegant and modest. I think the drooping flower is attractive along with the colour. I could see this as a massing, or featuring the plant.

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