Glade onions, cliff prairie Autumn or pink wild prairie autumnGlade Prairie, AB I’m going to take a break and let the many popular names for Allium stellatum inform you of everything you need to know about the gorgeous plant.
“Onion” and “onion” with the word “pretty” in the same sentence? That’s right!
The plant starts to produce new leaves in the early phases of spring, at a time when there isn’t much greenery visible on the ground.
A close-up vertical photo of a blooming prairie onion that is growing in the garden in bright daylight. The background was blurred out of focus to create an effect. There’s text in green and white on the top and bottom of the frame .
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As the seasons change from summer to fall, the stems are topped with an umbrella-shaped bunch of delicate star-shaped blossoms that range in hue all the way from pale pink through lavender. The blooms could come in any hue of lavender or pink.
There is probably more I can provide you with about this particular plant… for instance, its ability to be eaten in all its entirety, its ability to thrive in dry conditions, and its ability to deter pests like bugs and rodents from entering the garden.
In this video, I’ll show you how to maintain this simple and attractive garden feature that needs little care.
A. Stellatum, native to central North America, along with many others in its family, has a long-standing history of use in both the culinary and medicinal practices of indigenous peoples as well as early settlements.
A horizontal close-up image of a purple-pinkish prairie onion flower which is in bloom within the gardens. The flower is shown in bright sunlight against a background of blurred
Every aspect of this onion family, from the bulbs to the flowers, is able to be eaten. The bulbs could be cooked or raw, and the leaves as well as the flowers can be eaten fresh.
Children were offered sweetened decoctions made of bulbs to alleviate the symptoms of colds, and the extracts of the plant were used to ease congestion and fever and to aid in healing infections.
In July and August, the flowers open out on stalks that range anywhere between 12 and 18 inches tall. In the summer, they’ll put on an array of pastel to light purple flowers, which last for around three weeks. They attract all kinds of insects, including solitary bees of every size, who then pollinate the flower.
Due to their striking resemblances in the way they appear, A. stellatum and A. cernuum, both known as nodding onions, are often misunderstood as one.
A close-up, horizontal image of an Allium Cernuum, also known as a nodding onion, that is growing in the garden with a blurred background.
Allium cernuum is more commonly known as the nodding onion.
The most distinctive feature that distinguishes the Nodding Onion is its umbel that hangs towards the ground. Individual flowers in the prairie onions have more of a star-shaped shape rather than the spherical flowers of the species that are closely related, A. cernuum.
If you’re in the field searching for wild onions and aren’t sure what the distinction is between these two alliums with pinkish-purple flowers You’re in luck because both are edible.
Propagation
This plant is able to grow from seeds or through division of its bulbs since it doesn’t require pollination.
From the Ground Up
Let the flowers fully bloom and then set seeds. When the plant’s seedhead has become brown and dry, it is possible to harvest the tiny seeds in the fall.
A close-up horizontal image of a gorgeous pink bloom of Allium Stellatum that is growing in the garden, with the background blurry and out of focus.
Since seeds require a time of cold stratification to sprout, the best option is to plant seeds directly into the soil in the fall, and then be patient until the spring following to see if they’ve germinated.
If you want to save the seeds to plant the next season, it is best to place them in a cool, dry area during the winter. The seeds should be kept inside the refrigerator for at least a month in moist sand prior to planting.
Place the seeds in pots indoors for a quick start to the growing season. Or, place them directly in the soil where you’d like the plants to develop after the risk of frost has gone.
Plant up to three seeds with a diameter of 1/8 inch inside miniature pots fitted with drainage holes which are filled with a porous soilless propagation medium. Be sure the medium remains moist but not wet constantly.
It can take between 56 to seventy days for seedlings to sprout, so make sure that the pots are kept in a light, warm space that’s between 64 and 72 degrees F. When your plants are the size that they can be controlled as well as there’s no chance of the new leaves being damaged, you are able to transplant the plants in your garden or pots.
After carefully removing the plant from its container, put the root ball into its middle hole, which has been made to the exact size and depth as the container.
It is crucial to ensure that the plant’s crown is not completely submerged in the soil. Instead, it should be at the same height as the earth’s surface. The hole needs to be backfilled with earth, then some water needs to be added.
Set aside a space of 4 to 6 inches between the plants to ensure adequate airflow.
Division of bulbs can be the fastest way to increase the number of flowers in your garden. This is better than cultivating this stunning plant from seed, as it could take several years to grow before the plant begins to produce flowers. The process of growing this beautiful plant from seeds is simple, but it could take years to develop before the plant begins to produce flowers.
Using the Bulb Division System
Wait until the plant is able to produce eight to 10 sprouts, or at least every third year. You’ll be able to pull out bulblets and remove the bulb from its parent.
It is possible to divide prairie onions at any time throughout the growing season. However, autumn is the ideal time to divide them since this is also the time that the bulbs must be planted.
After digging up the bulb that was used as the source, take out the bulblets with the largest size by carefully removing them. However, leave any offsets that are small connected. This allows the offsets to increase in size before you can separate them in the spring or later.
