- Perennial green leaf
- Perennial vegetables
- Food forest
Poireau perpétuel
Allium ampeloprasum L.
A hardy, tasty, easy to grow perennial leek.
PLANT TYPE Vegetable
PLANT HABIT Perennial
USES Culinary
DESCRIPTION
A hardy, tasty, easy to grow perennial leek. Commonly sold in French nurseries but quite rare in the UK, is also known as French Perennial Leek. Has a leek/garlic taste and are great for kitchen garden omlettes and other cooked dishes. White-purplish flowers appear mid-summer on tall stalks as a allium floret and have a garlicy scent.
The leeks re-appear mid-winter after going dormant in late summer early autumn, and are best harvested March onwards when they’ve got a bit of size. To harvest any perennial leek, you can either cut stalk off at ground level (which allows the leek to regrow and maintain your plant stock), or remove completely from the ground with the bulb. Leaves and flowers are edible.
PRODUCT NOTES Plants in small pots for sale in late Winter/early Spring. Pack of 4 ground bulbils of at least one year old in Summer onwards.
RECOMMENDED LOCATION Kitchen garden, Forest garden
Aspect Full sun, Partial sun
Height 30cm
Spread 15cm
Hardiness Very hardy
Management and care Allowing your flowers a full season guarantees a mass of bulbils for sowing next year. Plant may take a year or so to establish before producing flower stalks. Sow plants any time between autumn and spring, but best planted late autumn, early winter. Bulbils can be sown from late autumn through to spring. We start them in pots mid-winter and and then transfer them in early spring to larger pots or into the ground. Sow bulbils 3cm deep with 10cm spacings. Will happily grow in clumps and can be sown in clumps if you have a lot of bulbils. Once established you can also propagate perennial leeks by dividing clumps in winter.
Origin/history
The wild plant is native to southern Europe and western Asia.
