Allium ‘Purple Sensation’

Bold Exclamation Points for the Sunny Garden.

Each 3-inch flowerhead is studded with up to 50 blooms!

A summer garden without Allium is like a cake without frosting — where’s the sweetness and fun? This super-easy bulb is just made for dotting around the sunny annual, perennial, or shrub border, popping up on the patio, and bobbing in a sea of purple in the backyard. The flowers are perfect for cutting, but you may find them so charming in the garden that you have to grow two stands — one just for the vase, the other wherever you need bold, bright “”punctuation”" in the garden!Purple Sensation is one of the deepest, richest violets ever grown in this family.

The 3-inch globes are packed with up to 50 starry florets, and you’ll enjoy watching them turn from little green nubs to brilliant outstretched blooms. They arise on a thick, fat 3-foot stalk, with a skirt of silvery-green leaves at the base that looks great even when the plant’s not in bloom. And if you think Daffodils are easy, wait until you grow this Allium.Purple Sensation looks terrific among billowy, airy plants such as Hardy Geraniums and Russian Sage, and feels right at home in the hot, dry soil favored by Sedum and Iceplant. It’s also fantastic among flowering annuals of all types, and it complements dwarf shrubs such as fragrant Leptodermis magnificently. In other words, you just can’t go wrong as long as you choose a hot, sunny spot with very good soil drainage. (If your soil is heavy or clay-ey, like mine here in the south, just add some humus or compost at planting time.)

Now, Purple Sensation will self-sow all over the place in your garden if you let it, so I recommend snipping the flowerheads as they fade. (If you let it sow, the new plants will have pale mauve blooms, not nearly as attractive as Purple Sensation) But that’s about it for maintenance — expect it to reappear for years to come as soon as the weather heats up in summer.Very resistant to extreme heat, cold, and drought, Purple Sens.