Sicilian honey garlic
Allium siculum ·
Tall stems carry a shower of nodding bells, cream flushed with plum and green, in late spring. As the flowers fade the seed pods turn upwards like the turrets of a castle.
- Size
- 3½ ft tall, 8 in wide
- Zones
- 5 to 9
- Light
- Full sun to part sun
- Flowers
- Late May to mid June
- Pets
- Toxic (moderate)
- Job in a bed
- Accent
A bed built around Sicilian honey garlic
The planner designed this bed around Sicilian honey garlic when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) cottage garden in zone 6, full sun. It chose the other plants from the 966 that suit those conditions, and says below why Sicilian honey garlic stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Bloody cranesbill 'Max Frei' × 5, pink
- 2 Winter heath × 10, white
- 3 Stiff goldenrod × 8, yellow
- 4 Silver sage × 1, silver leaves
- 5 Sicilian honey garlic × 5, cream
- 6 Ornamental onion 'Purple Sensation' × 5, purple
Why this plant
- The only cream. Cream sits between stronger colours and calms them.
Why here
- Anchors a back corner. At 3½ ft it is among the tallest plants here, and the tallest close the ends of the bed, where they stand in front of nothing.
- A step in the back row. Next to stiff goldenrod (4 ft): no two neighbours there are the same height, so the back steps up and down like a skyline.
- 5 plants in 3 places. An accent is a punctuation mark: the repeat along the bed gives it rhythm.
Why now
- In flower for four weeks. From late May to mid June.
- Part of the bed's peak. With bloody cranesbill 'Max Frei' and ornamental onion 'Purple Sensation' in late May: 3 kinds at once. No week has more.
- Leaves gone by midsummer. They die back and leave bare ground. A perennial that comes up late stands beside it, and grows over the gap.
Planned as a cottage garden: 24 of the 24 plants (100%), bulbs aside, stand alone or in groups of no more than five, small enough for the kinds to mingle. Sicilian honey garlic and stiff goldenrod anchor the back corners of the bed: the tallest plants on the plan stand there. Winter heath repeats along the bed to tie it together.
The planner's own design check: 10 Excellent, 6 Good, 1 Satisfactory. It flags one thing to watch: Nothing on this plan is highly poisonous or an aggressive spreader.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where Sicilian honey garlic goes in a border
At 3½ ft it belongs at the back of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is moderately tall (3 to 4 ft). It is airy enough to see through, so it can also come forward and veil what is behind it.
Its job: accent. An upright plant used singly, like a punctuation mark, and repeated at intervals to give the bed rhythm.
Its muted colours are best seen close up and against a plain background. It takes part shade better than most alliums, and seeds about gently.
- Subtle colour among peonies and cranesbills
- Light shade
- Seed heads
What to plant with Sicilian honey garlic
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Lady's mantle: in flower together for three weeks, from late May; grows up in time to hide its dying leaves; low enough (18 in) to stand in front of it.
- Cranesbill 'Rozanne': in flower together for two weeks, from early June; grows up in time to hide its dying leaves; low enough (18 in) to stand in front of it.
- Peony: in flower together for three weeks, from late May; grows up in time to hide its dying leaves.
Questions about Sicilian honey garlic
Does Sicilian honey garlic need sun or shade?
Sicilian honey garlic grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day) and part sun (4 to 6 hours of sun, including some afternoon sun).
It wants ordinary well-drained soil, of average fertility, and little watering once settled.
What zones does Sicilian honey garlic grow in?
USDA zones 5 to 9. It is hardy to zone 5, which means it survives winter nights down to about −10 °F (−23 °C).
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does Sicilian honey garlic flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers late May to mid June. As a spring flower it moves about a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer, later where it is colder.
| Zone 5 | Late May to mid June |
|---|---|
| Zone 6 | Mid May to mid June |
| Zone 7 | Early May to early June |
| Zone 8 | Early May to early June |
| Zone 9 | Late April to late May |
Worked out from Hopkins' bioclimatic law: spring arrives about four days later for each degree of latitude north, and one zone is roughly two degrees. A warm spring or a cold one moves any garden two weeks either way.
How far apart should Sicilian honey garlic be planted?
6 in (15 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 8 in (20 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 3½ ft (100 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many Sicilian honey garlic plants do I need?
At 6 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 48 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 21 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 153 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as one at a time, repeated along the bed at intervals; a slender one reads better as a clump of three.
In the bed above, the planner used five in three groups.
Is Sicilian honey garlic poisonous to dogs and cats?
Yes: moderate toxicity to people, dogs, cats and horses. Like all onions, it can damage red blood cells in dogs, cats and horses if eaten. Eating the bulbs in quantity can also upset a person's stomach.
Will Sicilian honey garlic spread?
It seeds itself about; the risk of it taking over is moderate. Multiplies by offsets and seed and spreads through a bed over time. It is easy to lift where it is not wanted.
What can I plant to hide Sicilian honey garlic's leaves after it flowers?
A bulb's leaves have to be left to yellow for about six weeks after flowering, to feed next year's flowers. Plant it among perennials that come up late and spread wide, and they grow over the leaves as they fade:
- Peony: 3 ft tall and 3 ft wide, a recorded partner, in flower late May to late June.
- Blue false indigo: 4 ft tall and 4 ft wide, in flower late May to mid June.
- Daylily: 2½ ft tall and 24 in wide, in flower late June to early August.
What does Sicilian honey garlic look like in winter?
Sicilian honey garlic is underground: it dies back after flowering and waits as a bulb until spring. Mark where it is, so a fork does not find it first.
More Allium
- Allium 'Ambassador' Allium 'Ambassador'
- Allium 'Gladiator' Allium 'Gladiator'
- Allium 'Globemaster' Allium 'Globemaster'
- Allium 'Mount Everest' Allium 'Mount Everest'
- Blue allium Allium caeruleum
- Chives Allium schoenoprasum
- Curly onion Allium senescens subsp. glaucum
- Drumstick allium Allium sphaerocephalon
- Garlic chives Allium tuberosum
- Giant allium Allium giganteum
- Golden garlic Allium moly
- Japanese onion 'Ozawa' Allium thunbergii 'Ozawa'
- Nodding onion Allium cernuum
- Ornamental onion 'Millenium' Allium 'Millenium'
- Ornamental onion 'Purple Sensation' Allium hollandicum 'Purple Sensation'
- Ornamental onion 'Summer Beauty' Allium 'Summer Beauty'
- Pink lily leek Allium oreophilum
- Schubert's allium Allium schubertii
- Star of Persia Allium christophii
- Turkestan onion Allium karataviense
In these guides
Every fact on record
- Type
- Bulb
- Size
- 3½ ft (100 cm) tall, 8 in (20 cm) wide
- Plant
- 6 in (15 cm) apart
- Height class
- Moderately tall (3 to 4 ft)
- Place in the bed
- Back, or further forward: it is airy enough to see through
- Flowers
- Late May to mid June; hanging bells; cream
- Leaves
- Medium texture, summer-dormant; green
- Shape
- Upright, self-seeding
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 5 to 9
- Light
- Full sun, part sun
- Soil
- Average, well-drained
- Water
- Low
- Feeding
- None needed
Not yet checked against an outside reference: its figures rest on general horticultural knowledge. Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.