And like a variety of other alliums (to which they are closely related - used to be known as Allium bulgaricum), once you have them planted, you will always have them planted :-) But they do have good staying power for a bulb and the hummingbirds love them. Hard to argue with that!

I planted several different Alliums one year and NS is about all that is still coming up every year, so I think they're great too. I was very disappointed in most of the others that make gorgeous round balls of purple flowers but quit after a year or 2. Elephant garlic is one that has nice round flowers in about 4" size that comes back well every year.

Glad I'm not the only one who likes them!

Hope the bed I've got them in has good enough drainage over winter so they don't rot. With all this rain and perennial plantings I put in that bed the slugs and mushrooms are a constant battle.

Once the annuals die back it'll be time to plant more bulbs and I'm planning to work in some sharp gravel to increase drainage. I don't have time to depend on "organic material" alone to fight the battle of poor drainage against the garage foundation wall that backs this bed.

I'm really looking forward to seeing these flowers again next year. I thought my father would hate them but he was taken with their delicacy. Who woulda thunk it? He also liked the annual Cleome (spider flower) I planted.

Concentrating on makeshift Hyacinth raised rock garden at one end of bed (already moved existing bulbs there). Moved Allium Roseum bulbs to where some annuals are now and will add section of Iris Reticulata to other annual spots.

Other than slugs this is the ONLY bed that isn't being horribly destroyed by deer/rabbits/groundhogs so it's a good deciduously winter/spring full sun place to put delicately flowering bulbs.