Allium 'MILLENIUM'

Ornamental onion is an attractive bulbous perennial commonly found all around mountainous regions of northern hemisphere. Most sought-after varieties are those with huge globular inflorescence in mid spring, yet there are others that bloom in the middle of summer offering handsome foliage all season round.

Millenium is a beautiful variety of ornamental onion with about 30 cm tall, strong stems atop which appear 4-5 cm wide flower heads composed of numerous rich lilac pink, slightly fragrant flowers. They open from early July and continue blooming for about 4-6 weeks, sometimes there are belated flowers on shorter stems extending the flowering period until early September. Leaves are narrowly linear, rich green, and glossy.

It was bred by a famous onion breeder and enthusiast Mark McDonough from Massachusetts, USA, who has involved himself in searching for, collecting, and breeding ornamental onions from all over the world since 1970’s. Even though his list includes some of the world’s top onion bestsellers, he does not rest on his laurels and keeps on searching and breeding in order to achieve a plant with crimson red and yellow flowers.

Millenium onion is a hybrid of Siberian wild form allium nutans thanks to which it boasts with hardiness and durability. It can take almost any soil that will not be too compacted or wet, it only needs regular moisture before it establishes. Fertilizing is not needed but beneficial for quicker reproduction. Once in about 5 years you can rejuvenate the plant by lifting the bulbs and dividing them into more clumps. These onions do best in full sun, only very slight shade is tolerated. In spite of typical garlic/onion aroma of all parts of the plant it is not suitable for consumption. Hardy to min. -27°C (USDA zone 5b), possibly more – not tested.

Last update 21-08-2017