Recently announced (August 2nd), the Perennial Plant Association chose the perennial plant of the year for 2018, picking a relative newcomer, an ornamental onion named Allium 'Millenium'. The program that selects these perennial standouts is a subsection of the Perennial Plant Association and members of the group are asked to vote for their favorite perennial, also choosing 2 for future consideration. Since this is an organization that represents the entire United States, it's preferable if the plant does well in many climates and garden zones. For 2017 the perennial plant of the year was Asclepias tuberosa or butterfly weed, a great choice considering the popularity of the pollinators garden and the need to feed the monarch butterfly larvae.

The story behind Allium 'Millenium' begins with Mark McDonough, a man that became infatuated with ornamental onions while still in high school. An architect by trade, he is well known in gardening circles as "The Onion Man". He lives in Pepperell Massachusetts, and his work with onions is widely respected.

Working primarily with rhizomatous onions or those that have tightly spreading roots and small bulbs, these are much different than the large bulb types that flower in April and May. Summer flowering with a good growth habit is his goal, a few species he is working with even have sweet, fragrant flowers. With 850 species of allium, there is a lot to work with. Mark concentrates on the smaller species of Central Asia, he has selected and named many hybrids but the marvelous Allium 'Millenium' has won the gardeners jackpot, so to speak, with recognition from an organization of professionals that have a big influence on the nursery trade. He is not a big nursery or even a big self promoter, choosing not to trademark or patent his selections.

The trail of hybridizing with this gem begins with one of Mark's older hybrids named Allium 'Satellite', a pink flowering hybrid from A. nutans (grows over all of Central Asia). Three of four generations later he tests another round of seedlings, recognizing that this one is a winner which he selects and names in 1990. Supposedly sterile, not producing seedlings, I can say that I have seedlings from the mother plant, little babies with a habit and bloom similar to the parent (and I have no other alliums in the area).

To grow Allium 'Millenium' best plant this perennial in full sun. My three year old plant is 18" tall with a 24" spread. I have used the flowers in flower arrangement from the first buds which I cut on July 17th. Here on August 21st, I still have 25 flower buds, so the span of flowering is over a month with an incredible amount of flowers, which are often visited by butterflies and bees.

Mine is planted with Sedum 'Autumn Charm', the variegated sport of Sedum 'Autumn Joy', and it's a great companion plant. For next year I plan on adding Calamintha 'Montrose White', the frothy white flowering catmint relative that flowers for 3 full months in summer. The "piece de resistance", or at least I'm pretty certain it will be, is adding Agastache 'Blue Boa" with its short lavender-purple flowers that go for months and months.

The gardener is always thinking of ways to improve their space, either by adding plants that flower when little else does, or adding plants to bring in wildlife. This is a winner on both counts.