Wild Garlic (Allium canadense)

2026-02-15T13:43:24-06:00

Type: Perennial
Price: 3.50

Local Name: Wild garlic

Botanical Name: Allium canadense

Family: Alliaceae

Status: Dakota County Native

Landscape Archetype: Prairie, Savanna

Life Cycle: Perennial

Sun Exposure: Full sun to part sun

Soil Moisture: Dry to mesic

Soil Type: Loam, sandy loam, silt, gravelly soil

Height & Width Range: Height: Ankles to Knees 6–24 inches, Width: typically, 6 inches barely though.

Bloom Color: White, Purple

Morphology Notes: Produces smooth, slender, hollow leaves arising from a bulb, with foliage emerging early in spring and senescing by midsummer. The flowering scape is leafless, smooth, and cylindrical, rising above the fading leaves. The inflorescence contains a mixture of true flowers, pink to white and star‑shaped, along with aerial bulblets that vary by individual plant and region. Blooms May to July. The root system consists of true bulbs that may cluster slowly over time.

Fruits and Seeds: When flowers are produced and successfully pollinated, they form small capsules containing black seeds that mature in midsummer. Many plants produce few or no seeds when bulblets dominate the inflorescence. The bulblets detach and root readily, serving as the primary reproductive mode. Wild garlic bulbs are edible and have a long record of foraging use.

Habit and Habitat: Grows clusters of bulbs and forms loose, scattered colonies rather than dense mats. Plants have an upright habit when in bloom, but the foliage arches and flops as it matures. In the wild it is found in dry to mesic prairies, open savannas, woodland edges, and rocky slopes. In open habitats it blooms more flowers. Tolerates drought, lean soils, and moderate disturbance, making it a resilient component of short grass prairie style plantings or rock garden and edges.

Companions: Sky blue aster (Symphyotrichum oolentangiense), Prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis), Blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), Carex brevior (Short-beak Sedge) and other short sedges, Field Pussytoes (Antennaria neglecta), Penstemon species, Pasque Flower (Anemone patens).

Ecological Associations: Provides nectar and pollen to small native bees including small sweat bees (Lasioglossum versatum & coeruleum) and to hover flies such as the margined calligrapher (Toxomerus marginatus). When seed is produced, it may be eaten by small granivorous insects such as the dusky grain beetle (Ahasverus advena) and other micro-grain beetles that forage on exposed seed clusters.

Provenance: MN

NH Propagation Technique: Seed or Division.

Special Powers: Wild Garlic contributes early-season structure and supports pollinators during the summer solstice gap in that transition between spring and summer in MN. An excellent plant for small gardens mix with low growing perennials for a dynamic pop. Dig it up and eat it if it looks dumb or wait for summer and it will just disappear to return next spring.