Allium giganteum or the giant onion
It’s family name: Alliaceae
This is one of my absolute favourites. In fact my gardeners call it my signature plant.. but then I seem to have lots of those!
It likes full sun so a south-facing border suits it best, but it will survive perfectly well in north, west and east-facing borders provided there is some shelter from wind. It will grow in most soils, but add a bit of grit when grown in a clay soil to help drainage.
Allium are bulbous herbaceous perennials with a strong onion or garlic scent, linear, strap-shaped or cylindrical basal leaves and star-shaped or bell-shaped flowers in an umbel on a leafless stem.
Allium giganteum is a perennial with spreading, glossy, strap-shaped basal leaves which die down before the flowers. Dense globose umbels of bright purple flowers are borne . It is reasonably hardy and has purple summer flowers but is green in the spring. By about late July it has died back. It reaches a height of 1 – 1.5 metres and is fabulous in the early weeks of a herbaceous border and mixes well with plants its own height or those much smaller. It looks particularly good in a cottage or informal garden style.