There are few plants with the versatility of the allium family.

With good looks and taste, ornamental onions are grown for their showy flower heads, which come in a wide range of sizes and shades of blue, purple, white and yellow.

They provide floral punctuation marks that float above the flower border, joined by their culinary cousins, leeks, onions, shallots and garlic in the vegetable plot.

'All alliums make good cut flowers, lasting well in water if changed every other day to minimise the onion smell'

All alliums make good cut flowers, lasting well in water if changed every other day to minimise the onion smell. They also make beautiful decorations in the house if collected and dried before the autumn winds damage their seed heads.

Allium cristophii have huge starry heads of 20cm in width!

They are not particularly keen on clay soil but don’t let that stop you; either add some extra grit to your soil for drainage or plant them in a large trough or container for a dramatic display.

Now I feel a bit mean as I am telling you all about these lovely bulbs but you won’t be able to actually plant them until later in the year as bulbs should be planted in early autumn but I will try to remind you about them then so you don’t miss out next year!

A tip if planning to include Alliums in your border – plant so the leaves will be masked behind the foliage of other plants as the leaves go straggly when they begin to die down after flowering.

Varieties to choose from

• Allium ‘Globemaster’ AGM: deep violet heads, reliable plant 15-20cm (6-8”) across, H 80cm (32”)
• Allium hollandicum ‘Purple Sensation’ AGM: this allium has smaller heads of deep violet, 8cm (3’) across, and reaches a height of about 1m (3ft).
• Allium ‘sphaerocephalon’: has pretty pink flowers and will keep going long after the other alliums are going over so good for later summer colour.
• Allium ‘cristophii’: the largest and most eye catching of all with each huge, spherical flower-head containing up to 80 purple flowers. H 60cm.

When it comes to the edible type of alliums I grow the lot; onions; garlic; leeks; shallots & chives, as they are so useful I think cooking would be very dull without them.

If their looks and taste weren’t already enough reasons to love the Allium family there is one more, they are a great companion plant….the carrot root fly can smell carrots from up to a mile away so if you plant alliums such as leeks, onions or garlic nearby their strong-smell will mask the sweet carroty smell and so deterring them.

Alliums also deter slugs so grow salad leaf crops such as lettuce and rocket amongst them.