Why choose native plants? Pacific Northwest native plants know how to live here and how to thrive here. They often need much less water and less fertilizer. They spread slowly and are not invasive. They support a wide diversity of wildlife. And best of all, they look great!
There are many ornamental flowering onions that offer a variety of unusual shapes and forms. The nodding onion, Allium cernuum, is distinguished from most other native alliums by the fact that its flower stems crook sharply downward at the top just below the flower causing the flower umbel to nod (cernuum means ‘nodding’ in Latin). It occurs on rocky soils in glades, bluff edges, open woods, dry meadows and prairies throughout its native range. Because of its wide distribution, it is variable in plant size, flower color and bloom time. As with other members of the genus, it has the characteristic, pungent onion aroma. It is hardy in zones 3-10.
The plants grow 6-20” tall with a 12-18” spread, forming attractive clumps. Flat, narrow, grass-like leaves emerge from a slender conic bulb with a brown membranous outer layer. The foliage persists into late summer before dying back. The clumps slowly expand by making new offsets. Each mature bulb typically bears a single flowering stem with up to 30 flowers. Light pink to lavender (or occasionally white) flowers are produced in loose, pendulous umbels like little fireworks atop erect, leafless scapes (flower stems) rising slightly above the foliage. Blooms in early to mid-summer and is attractive to butterflies and bees. Photo courtesy of SevenOaks Nursery.
