Mixed Top-Setting Tree Onions

They grow normally, but when the time comes, instead of making a flower, they make a tiny bunch of bulbils on the end of the flowerstalk where the flower should be. Sometimes these then sprout while still attached, making a second set of bulbs at the top!

They are also known as ‘Tree Onions’ or ‘Walking Onions’ because the flowerstalk falls over, and the bulbils root where they touch the ground. The next year, these form onions in the new location, grow a stalk with bulbils on top – which then falls over . . . in this way they can walk a good foot every year and eventually migrate off your plot and into the wilds.

The onions are nice and hardy, and used as any bunching onion, while the bulbils can be used in pickles, or chopped up for cooking -but we think most people really want them for amusement as much as anything else.

Needless to say, you should never need to buy them again – just split up the bulbils and plant them out each year.

IMPORTANT: The tree onion bulbils that you receive will look quite dry and shrivelled. Don’t worry! They grow really vigorously from very unpromising looking beginnings. But do plant them in a small pot in a frost-free place as soon as you receive them! As long as you plant upon receipt they should be fine and of course we will replace if it doesn’t work.

To be fair, clear and avoid any disappointment, the reproductive bulbils we send out are small – about the size of a pea.