By Johnson 
Allium moly
Allium moly, also known as golden garlic or lily leek, is a perennial bulb in the Amaryllidaceae family, native to regions stretching from eastern Spain to Italy and parts of North Africa.
This ornamental allium is hardy in USDA Zones 3 to 9, adding interest to the spring-to-summer landscape.
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The umbels, or flattened clusters of star-shaped, vibrant yellow blossoms perch atop narrow, leafless stems that rise from blue-green strappy foliage.
Low-growing and clump-forming, golden garlic adapts well to a variety of garden settings, from borders and rockeries to woodland clearings where it can naturalize with ease.
Ready to learn more about growing this easy-care ornamental allium? Here’s what I’ll cover:
At maturity, golden garlic reaches about 10 to 18 inches in height and spreads 10 to 12 inches wide.
It’s ideal for mass plantings, drifts, and naturalized areas where its golden clusters can shine.
Golden garlic plants are well-suited to borders, drifts, rockeries, and woodland clearings where they can naturalize, creating swaths of richly saturated color.
Quick Look
Common name(s): Golden or yellow garlic, lily leek
Plant type: Perennial flowering bulb
Hardiness (USDA Zone): 3-9
Native to: Mediterranean region, northwest Africa
Bloom time / season: Spring to early summer
Exposure: Full sun, tolerates partial shade
Soil type: Average to fertile loam, well-draining
Soil pH: 5.5-6.5, slightly acidic
Time to maturity: Up to 3 years from seed
Mature size: 10 to 18 inches tall, 10 to 12 inches wide
Best uses: Border, drift, naturalize, woodland, rockery
Taxonomy
Order: Asparagales
Family: Amaryllidaceae
Genus: Allium
Species: Moly
You may read that golden garlic make lovely cutting garden flowers, but they smell like garlic and onions, and more so when you cut them.
However, the odor is beneficial outdoors because it repels herbivores, like deer and rabbits.
While toxic to pets and humans if ingested, Allium moly poses no threat when used ornamentally.
How to Grow
Golden garlic is easy to grow and care for in the home landscape when growers replicate its natural habitat and cater to its cultural requirements.
Climate
As a hardy bulb, golden garlic thrives in a Mediterranean climate with dry, hot summers and wet, mild winters.
Brief periods of freezing temperatures are well tolerated in Zones 3 to 9.
Light
For the best floral display, grow golden garlic in full sun. Partial shade, such as beneath emerging deciduous trees, may produce less vigorous results.
Soil
Soil should be of average to fertile loam that drains well and has a slightly acidic pH of 5.5 to 6.5.
If you are growing Allium moly in a container, choose a non-compacting, all-purpose, moisture retentive, well-draining product.
Water
Golden garlic requires moderate moisture during the growing season, an inch a week, including rain.
These plants do not like “wet feet,” so the soil must drain well to prevent the bulb from rotting.
For potted specimens, avoid overwatering by allowing the soil to dry to about three inches deep before watering again.
Wait for it to finish dripping through the drainage holes before setting the pot on a saucer.
When they finish blooming, the bulbs enter dormancy and don’t require water until the following spring. Choose companion plants with similar moisture needs to simplify care.
Fertilizing
Sow golden garlic bulbs in early fall. Sprinkle a balanced, slow-release, granular fertilizer over the soil and water it in per package instructions.
Avoid putting fertilizer directly into the planting holes, as it may burn the bulbs.
Feed every spring when the first shoots appear, sprinkling over the soil and not the foliage.
Where to Buy
Golden garlic bulbs are white and measure two to three inches across.
When selecting individual bulbs in a nursery, choose the largest ones. They should be firm and unblemished with the paper “tunic” intact. You can also source bulbs online.
Golden Garlic, Allium moly
Packets of 25 bulbs are available from Burpee.
In addition to the straight species, there is a cultivated variety.
Robust ‘Jeanine’ is an early-bloomer with bright golden flowers and two stems per bulb.
Maintenance
As the buds begin to open, the leaves turn yellow then brown, eventually dying back.
When they have fully withered and are no longer feeding the bulb, you can snip them off for a neater display.
If you don’t want the seeds to disperse, you can deadhead spent stems as the petals fade. It won’t necessarily produce a second bloom.
Each golden garlic bulb produces one or two flowering stems per season, depending on whether you are growing the straight species or the cultivar, but deadheading will keep the garden tidy.
At season’s end, cut all foliage to the ground and dispose of it to prevent harboring pests and pathogens.
You can divide bulbs in early spring or late summer to rejuvenate overcrowded, poorly flowering clumps and maintain a prolific display. We discuss this in more detail in the propagation section below.
In regions that freeze during the winter, cover the planting area with a two-inch layer of light, non-compacting mulch, like straw or pine needles, for added insulation.
Remove the mulch in early spring before the new shoots appear.
Propagation
To start Allium moly plants, you’ll need seeds, bulbs, or potted bulbs from the nursery. Let’s discuss.
From Seed
You can buy golden garlic seeds or collect them from existing plants after the seed pods dry out at the end of summer.
- Work the soil to a depth of four to six inches until it’s crumbly and free from debris.
- The seeds are tiny, so pinch some between your thumb and forefinger and sprinkle them every six to eight inches. Cover with an eighth of an inch of soil.
- Mist the soil lightly with water, and keep it evenly moist while you wait for germination.
- When the seedlings emerge, they look like blades of grass. Thin them to one per interval.
- Water when the top inch of soil is dry.
After approximately three years, fully formed bulbs will be ready to bloom.
By Division
You can divide mature clumps of golden garlic that have been in place for at least three years after the plants have finished blooming.
Using your foot on a long-handled garden shovel, dig the full blade into the ground at a 45-degree angle about six inches away from a clump of growth, pressing down lightly on the handle to loosen the earth.
Lift the blade out and repeat the process at intervals around the clump, working in a full circle. On the final dig, press down firmly on the handle to lift the entire clump from the ground.
Gently brush away excess soil to expose the allium bulbs. Look for daughter bulblets that are about three-quarters the size of the parent bulb.
Carefully separate and collect these for transplanting. Leave any smaller offsets in place to continue developing.
Replant the parent bulbs at their original depth and refill the hole with soil. Transplant the collected offsets per the instructions below.
Transplanting
Before planting golden garlic, loosen the garden soil to a depth of eight to 10 inches.
Set daughter bulblets in place with the pointed side facing up, spacing them six to eight inches apart.
Plant each bulb three times as deep as their circumference, or about six inches deep.
When transferring bulbs from containers into the garden, maintain the same depth they were in the pot, or position them slightly higher than ground level to facilitate drainage.
If you choose to keep golden garlic in a container, select a vessel with ample drainage holes and fill it three-quarters full with non-compacting, moisture-retentive, well-draining potting medium.
The ideal pot depth is at least nine inches deep, to accommodate the six-inch sowing depth plus three inches for root growth, and wide enough for six to eight inches between bulbs.
Pests and Disease
Under ideal conditions, A. moly is not prone to infestation or infection.
However, under overly wet conditions, the plants may be vulnerable to pests. Let’s take a look at the main problems you may encounter.
Allium Leaf Miners
Gardeners in the eastern US may encounter allium leaf miners (Phytomyza gymnostoma), the larvae of small black and yellow flies that tunnel into the upper layers of leaf tissue, leaving behind disfiguring trails.
The insects are most active during cool weather. Signs include small flies hovering near the plants and visible dotted lines or trails on the foliage.
Install yellow sticky traps near plants to capture and kill adults in early spring and again in late summer to fall to reduce populations.
Remove and dispose of affected leaves and apply neem oil to the remaining foliage.
For edible alliums like chives and leeks, floating row covers or insect netting can help prevent infestation.
In the case of ornamental alliums like golden garlic, the damage is typically cosmetic and often minimal by the time flowering begins.
Learn more about allium leaf miners here.
Onion Maggots
Moisture-loving onion maggots, Delia antigua, are the larvae of gray, hump-backed flies. They are soilborne pests that feed on allium bulbs, often infecting them with bacterial soft rot.
Signs of infestation include growth anomalies and premature leaf yellowing.
Install yellow sticky traps in early spring to catch emerging adult flies.
You can dig up the bulbs to check for infestation, then treat the soil with beneficial nematodes.
Steinernema feltiae nematodes are naturally occurring, non-segmented roundworms that remain in the soil near bulbs as long as there are pests to feed upon.
NemAttack Beneficial Nematodes
Sf Beneficial Nematodes are available from Arbico Organics.
Onion Thrips
Onion thrips, Thrips tabaci, are tiny yellowish-brown sapsucking pests that thrive in hot, dry conditions.
The winged adults and wingless nymphs feed on foliage, causing silvery stippling and growth deformities.
To prevent problems, remove all foliage debris after blooming to eliminate overwintering sites. Set out yellow sticky traps to capture adults, and apply neem oil to treat infested foliage.
Our guide to dealing with thrips has more information.
Disease
In addition, excess moisture and pest vectors may cause diseases. Here are the main ones to watch for:
Bacterial Soft Rot
As mentioned, onion maggots spread bacterial soft rot, caused by Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum.
Signs of infection include pale, wilted leaves and mushy, foul-smelling bulbs that ooze liquid when squeezed.
To prevent its spread, avoid purchasing or planting bulbs that feel soft or show signs of decay.
Promptly dig up and discard any symptomatic bulbs to keep the infection from spreading to healthy specimens.
Downy Mildew
Peronospora destructor is an oomycete or water mold that causes downy mildew on foliage in cool, overly moist environments.
Telltale signs include a fuzzy grayish coating on the leaves, yellowing, browning, leaf drop, and stunting.
Water at the soil level rather than over the foliage to keep the leaves dry. Remove and discard affected foliage and apply neem oil to help contain the spread.
White Rot
Stromatina cepivorum (syn. Sclerotium cepivorum) is a soilborne fungus that proliferates in cool, moist conditions.
It infects bulbs with a cottony white fungal growth, often accompanied by small black sclerotia – tiny, hardened “fruiting bodies” that can persist in the soil for up to 15 years.
Symptoms include wilting and bulbs that loosen easily in the soil. Dig and discard affected plant material in the trash. Rotate to a new planting area next growing season.
Easy-Care Golden Umbels
Allium moly offers gardeners in Zones 3 to 9 a spring flower that is easy to care for and drought-tolerant once established.
With full sun and slightly acidic, well-draining loam, it performs as beautifully in the home landscape as in its native Mediterranean habitat.
It’s time to take out your garden planner and decide where you will enjoy the bobbing umbels of golden garlic from spring to early summer for years to come.
Do you grow golden garlic? Please share your tips for success in the comments section below.
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