Allium Moly Care – Learn How To Grow Golden Garlic Alliums

allium moly
allium moly
(Image credit: Hana Richterova)

Garlic plants are members of the allium family. Although garlic is often considered a kitchen essential, you might also come to think of it as a garden essential, since many alliums double as ornamental bulbs. One to look for is golden garlic, also called moly garlic. What is moly garlic? It’s an allium bulb plant that offers bright, long-lasting yellow flowers on tall stalks. For more allium moly information, plus tips on how to grow golden garlic, read on.

What is Moly Garlic?

If you’ve never heard of this type of allium before, you may ask: what is moly garlic? According to Allium moly info, moly garlic (Allium moly) is a bulb plant native to Europe with a very attractive flower. The plant has many common names, including moly garlic, golden garlic and lily leek. It grows from a bulb and forms clumps of 12-inch (30 cm.) tall foliage. The blue-green leaves resemble tulip or leek foliage. In springtime, moly garlics grow tall, leafless flower stalks topped with clusters of star-shaped yellow blossoms. Both the brilliant hue and the flower shape are eye-catching and appealing, and they make great cut flowers. That’s why so many gardeners in the U.S. have started growing golden garlic.

How to Grow Golden Garlic

If you are wondering how to grow golden garlic, you’ll be happy to learn that the plant thrives in most regions in the country. It grows well in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 3 through 9. Growing golden garlic is a snap, and you won’t need many bulbs to get going. That’s because these plants quickly naturalize an area, returning year after year to brighten up a sunny corner. It looks particularly lovely when it appears in wide swaths of yellow. In order to start growing golden garlic, plant the bulbs in autumn in well-draining soil, ideally rich, sandy loam. You can site them in full sun in most regions, but part shade is better if your summers are hot.

Allium Moly Care

Don’t think of moly as an invasive species, because it isn’t. But the plant does naturalize quickly, both by self-seeding and by offsets. Just a small selection of golden garlic bulbs can colonize a bed quickly. If you are concerned about the plants spreading, you should include deadheading the blossoms before seed sets as part of your regular Allium moly care.

Teo Spengler
Writer

Teo Spengler has been gardening for 30 years. She is a docent at the San Francisco Botanical Garden. Her passion is trees, 250 of which she has planted on her land in France.