The other day a friend was dropping me off in front of my house just as a young girl was walking down the sidewalk past my front yard flowerbed. I decided to wait until she passed before I got out of the car because she was wearing earphones and I didn’t want to startle her. But she stopped dead in her tracks when she spotted the crazy number of bees and other pollinators on my alliums. She pulled out her phone to take some photos and then murmured “That’s amazing!” before sheepishly realizing my friend and I were sitting in the car just a few feet away.
I hope she had better luck with her photos than I’ve had. Every August the number of pollinators that show up when the alliums finally bloom is a jaw-dropping sight and no matter how hard I try, I just cannot capture the moment in a photo.
I think it’s the activity (the hovering and buzzing and crawling) that’s so amazing to see more than the sheer number of beetles, wasps, bees and butterflies. Those flowers just come alive!
Let’s try a video instead!
Allium ‘Millenium’ is a perennial that grows 15 to 20 inches tall and starts blooming when most of the other perennials are done for the season. My plants start blooming in late July and continue into mid-August.
They don’t have any disease or pest challenges and this is one of the only plants that has a 100% perfect winter track record in my north-facing flowerbeds (other than daylilies).
If you’re looking for a plant to help struggling pollinators, make sure to add this one to your gardens and flowerbeds!