Allium ampeloprasum ‘Elephant garlic’

Allium ampeloprasum, whose cultivar 'Elephant Garlic' belongs to the Amaryllidaceae family, is native to the Mediterranean basin and western Asia, where the wild leek grows in fields and waste ground. Despite its name, it is botanically closer to the leek than to true garlic. The large bulb, weighing up to 500 g, splits into 5 or 6 big cloves surrounded by bulblets. The leaves are broad, blue-green and strap-shaped, and the flowering stalk, up to nearly 2 m tall, bears a large spring umbel of pink to purple flowers. It is grown in full sun on fertile, well-drained soil.