Allium

The genus Allium, from the Latin for 'garlic,' offers colorful, long-lasting forms that are standouts in the early-summer garden. Alliums, also known as Ornamental Onion or Flowering Onion, are sun lovers and prefer well-drained, even sandy, soil. Deer, mice, chipmunks, and related predators generally avoid this group, so you can plant with impunity. Tuck Allium flower bulbs among clumps of summer-flowering perennials where the Alliums' spent foliage will be hidden by the expanding perennials.