How to Grow a Crinkled Onion

Crinkled onion (Allium crispum) is not an onion at all but rather a delicate flowering member of the lily family. This herb-like plant is a perennial wildflower in California and bears bright green foliage and shocking magenta or purple blossoms. Crinkled onion grows and blooms from spring through summer, then dies down and goes dormant during winter. Plant crinkled onion seeds in pots and flowerbeds -- in deep, loose soil -- for bright blooms in summer.

Pots/containers
Peat moss
Compost
Garden loam
Perlite

Instructions

- 1
  Plant crinkled onion seeds in early spring for summertime blooming. Use 6- to 12-inch pots with drainage holes to keep the plans mobile, and for plantings in cool areas of the country.
- 2
  Mix a loose, nutritious planting soil with 1 part organic compost to 1 part garden loam, or 1 part each of garden loam, peat moss and vermiculite or perlite. Crinkled onion doesn't require overt nutrition but does best with moist, quick-draining soil.
- 3
  Plant crinkled onion seeds 1/2 inch deep at every 4 to 5 inches in the pots. The plants don't require generous spacing but do best with some room to grow and breathe.
- 4
  Put the pots in sites with partial or filtered sun to keep them relatively cool. These plants may burn in full sun. Give them 2 inches of water every week and allow the soil to dry slightly between waterings.

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