Everyone loves an allium. Like magic wands shooting stars of purple pixie dust, they rise quietly from the earth, soaring with unobtrusive promise, before exploding into these gorgeous balls of bloom. The stunning Allium giganteum is one of the largest in this genus, rising upwards of five feet, and topped with hundreds of tiny flowers forming a transfixing orb of purple majesty.
I tend to admire them in the gardens of others, as once thy finish their bloom cycle the foliage does a slow die back, and it should not be removed until the bulb has rejuvenated itself for next year. An early stunner that then leaves a blank space in the garden for the rest of the summer, but what a show it provides. The garden posits such tradeoffs and the gardener must pick and choose which are worth the price.
