Allium cernuum
Origin: Maine
Improvement status: Cultivated wild material
Seeds per packet: ~70
BOTANICAL SAMPLE - NOT GERMINATION TESTED
Life cycle: Perennial
Nodding onion is one of our most underutilized native perennial edibles. It's likely people overlook it assuming it is just "onion grass" (also known as "wild garlic," or Allium vineale, which is also edible, though not as tasty, and an invasive weed from across the Atlantic). But nodding onion has graceful pink-white flowers, slender and tender green leaves, and surprisingly large edible bulbs. Also, deer don't like it, but pollinators like our native bees do. Native across North America, this is a native perennial everyone should be growing. Our seed comes from Aaron Parker of Edgewood Nursery in Maine. Hardy to Zone 3.
GROWING TIPS: Seeds germinate best after 60+ days of cold stratification, sow in fall outdoors or store damp in fridge for 60+ days.
