Everlasting Onions

[Monika]

Years ago, my stepfather had in his vegetable garden clumps of salad onions (not unlike spring onions) which he used to loosen the soil around and pull up a few as and when he needed them.

As I said, they looked like spring onions but had a red tinge to them, they never died and the clumps just got bigger and bigger. They had a very nice flavour as I recall.

I would love to grow these again and wonder if anyone knows what they are called and where I could acquire some.

They are from a  bygone era as I know his father had planted them originally in the garden around the early 1900s.

[Monika]

[ancellsfarmer]

They may have been these:Welsh (bunching )onion, Allium fistulosum
See:
www.realseeds.co.uk/onionsspecial.html

and

www.norfolkherbs.co.uk/product/welsh-onion-allium-fistulosum/

[Vetivert]

Hi Monika, if you're referring to the Allium cepa perutile Everlasting onions, or Sybies as they're known in Scotland, I was able to source some from Poyntzfield Nurseries www.poyntzfieldherbs.co.uk
I believe Pennard Plants lists them, too.

They bulb very slightly, have a reddish/pink base, and very rarely, if ever, flower. So they're propagated by dividing clumps. In contrast, Allium fistulosum bunching onions flower readily and can be propagated from seed.

[Monika]

Ansellsfarmer and Vetivert  - thanks very much for your replies.  But - in particular, those onions you describe, Vetivert, sound exactly like the ones I am seeking and I'll be chasing those up this coming week.

I'm so  pleased I posted here, thanks again.