Wild onion

About

A native perennial onion that sends up clumps of grass-like leaves in lawns from fall through spring. It smells like onion when mowed and comes back from bulbs year after year.

Also called meadow garlic

How to identify it

Look for

Flat, solid, grass-like leaves 6 to 12 inches long with a strong onion smell when crushed. It grows from a bulb and in late spring puts up stalks topped with pink or white star-shaped flowers, often mixed with small aerial bulblets.

Look-alikes

Wild garlic has round, hollow leaves. Toxic star-of-Bethlehem and death camas look similar but have no onion or garlic smell, so crush a leaf: if it doesn't smell of onion or garlic, don't eat it.

Where it grows

Lawns, meadows, fields, thickets and woodland edges.

When

Comes up from bulbs in late fall, grows through winter and spring, flowers in late spring, and dies back in early summer.

How it spreads

Spreads by underground bulbs and aerial bulblets, and bulbs can persist in soil for several years.

Most common in

What to do, gentlest first

Start at the top. Weed killers are a last step; always read and follow the label.

1. Mow regularly and keep the lawn thick Prevent

   Mowing won't kill it but weakens plants and stops aerial bulblets from forming. Mow at the right height and fertilize so turf stays dense.

2. Dig out clumps with the bulbs By hand

   Dig clumps with a thin trowel when soil is moist, lifting out the bulbs. Pulling usually snaps off the leaves and leaves bulbs behind.

   Bulbs can stay dormant for years, so expect to repeat for several seasons.

3. Spray in late fall and again in early spring Conventional spray

   No pre-emergents work. Spray a lawn broadleaf mix of 2,4-D, MCPP and dicamba, or metsulfuron, in late fall after shoots appear and again in February or March; in bermuda, zoysia and centipede lawns, imazaquin also works. Mowing just before spraying helps the waxy leaves take it up, then don't mow for 2 weeks.

   Read and follow the label. Many lawn herbicides kill garden plants, so keep spray and drift off beds and vegetables. Don't spray dicamba over tree and shrub roots, and avoid spraying warm-season lawns as they green up.

Uses, wildlife and pets

Edible?

Leaves, flowers, bulbs and stems are edible raw, cooked or pickled, and the bulbs can stand in for leeks or garlic. Only harvest plants with a clear onion smell, from ground that hasn't been sprayed.

Not 100% sure? Don't eat it. Never pick from ground that may have been sprayed, or along roads and railways.

For wildlife

Flowers draw bees, butterflies and hummingbirds, and wild turkeys eat the bulbs.

Pets

The ASPCA lists onion and garlic (Allium) as toxic to dogs, cats and horses; they can damage red blood cells. Wild onion is in the same group, so keep pets from eating it.