Serendipity has everything gardeners like about the classic summer-blooming ornamental onions, plus striking blue foliage. Rosy purple globes appear in abundance from mid to late summer, standing out against the cool blue leaves.
It has been a repeat top performer in Michigan State University trials and a consumer favorite in Canadian trials. At 15 to 20 inches tall, it fits the front of a border, rock gardens and containers. It is drought tolerant and easy to grow, and while pollinators love it, deer and rabbits avoid it.
What it looks like
Rounded flower heads about 2 inches across packed with many tiny starry florets in rosy purple, held on firm stems just above the foliage. Leaves are thick, strappy and powder blue to blue-green with a slight gloss, forming a compact, upright clump. The plant is 15 to 20 inches tall and 10 to 15 inches wide. At peak bloom rosy purple balls crowd the top of the blue foliage clump.
Growing it with lavender
Serendipity loves the same full sun and lean, well-drained soil as lavender, and its blue leaves and rosy purple globes blend with lavender's colors while blooming after lavender's first flush.
Care
Grow in full sun to part shade in lean to average, well-drained soil; it handles drought once established. Hardy in USDA zones 4-8. Trim off any tired foliage in fall or early spring; clumps can be divided in spring every few years.
At a glance
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Botanical name: Allium
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Flower color: Rosy purple
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Foliage: Powder blue
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Growth habit: Compact, upright clump
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Mature size: 15–20 in tall × 10–15 in wide
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USDA hardiness zones: 4–8
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Light: full sun, part sun to part shade
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Bloom start: Late-July
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Peak bloom: Early-August
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Bloom pattern: Single Flush
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Deer resistance: Resistant
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Pollinator value: Excellent
Sizes and shipping
Dormant bare-root plant, sold in boxes of 25 per variety (order in multiples of 25). Bare-root plants ship or are picked up March 1–May 31 only. They are soil-free, so they may ship to every state in that window. Dormant plants often show little or no top growth on arrival; plant or heel them in promptly.