When I planted a couple of Allium ‘Millenium’ plants last spring I wasn’t sure if they would survive winter since they are listed as a Zone 5 plant. They survived just fine but our winter was a mild one, so perhaps it was not a good measure of this plant’s toughness. Quite frankly I don’t care. I LOVE these little purple puffballs!
In fact I love them so much that I bought 3 more plants this spring.
The bees are as crazy about ‘Millenium’ as I am:
‘Millenium’ grows 15 to 20 inches tall, and the flowers start blooming in mid-July.
There is a similar cultivar called ‘Summer Beauty’. I purchased one this spring, but I didn’t fall in love with it. It grows a little taller than ‘Millenium’ and the flowers are more of a silvery-lavender. Like ‘Millenium’ the flowers started appearing in mid-July, but the plant was done blooming by the second week of August:
Nope, I prefer the more vibrant lavender color of ‘Millenium’:
This plant blooms at the same time as rudbeckias, goldenrods and sedums.
Maybe if we get a tougher winter this year I’ll have a better idea of this plant’s hardiness. If it survives a rough winter I wouldn’t hesitate to grow even more of these little beauties.