Allium cernuum

Wild Onion, Nodding Wild Onion, Lady's Leeks, Nodding Onion

Nodding Wild Onion is a delightful member of the onion family, a perennial herb which is beautifull as well as hardy and well behaved in the garden. Flat, grass-like leaves emerge as a clump from rhizomatous bulbs, followed by taller, round, leafless flowering stalks which bend over, dangling clusters of dainty little white, pink or lavender flowers with yellow exserted stamens and pistils (“cernuous” = “drooping, as a flower; nodding”) This cool season flowering perennial, found in counties sprinkled across the NC piedmont and mountain regions, is soil adaptable, thriving in sunny habitats with well drained alkaline, neutral or even acidic soils. Pollinated mostly by bees (which can do their business upside down), Nodding Wild Onion is what most gardenerss appreciate most – a carefree and cheerful plant.