How to Make Giant Garden Art Alliums

This step-by-step tutorial shares how to make giant garden art alliums—a beautiful, repurposed, decorative flower project for your outdoor space.

You can also make giant coneflowers (Echinacea) garden art with this tutorial.

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Giant Allium Garden Art

Alliums are those giant, purple, globe-shaped flowers you notice in the spring when not much else is blooming yet. They are a member of the onion family and grow from bulbs. Bees love them as they have few nectar options so early in the growing season.

I first thought of this garden art idea years ago when I saw packages of nails all bundled in rolls in the thrift shop. The long nails with their flat heads reminded me of the hundreds of little stems in the head of an allium as they go into bloom and also when they start turning to seed. Weird, I know.

Related: Learn how to grow alliums in your garden here.

After testing out a few options, softballs turned out to be the perfect core for the flowers. They are easy to drill and nails go in very nicely. Whatever that fluffy stuff is inside, it grabs the nails snugly and hold them in place.

How to Make Garden Art Alliums

I painted my allium purple with a green stem. I really wanted a specific color of purple paint but the spray paint options at our local hardware store are really limited so I had to go with the only purple available. Hopefully you’ll be able to get the color you want.

If you love the look of dried seeds or rusty metal, you could also spray paint the whole thing in those sorts of colors.

Bottom line: your art—your choice. I’ll probably update mine if I ever come across the perfect purple.

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Watch the How-to Video

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Supplies

As always, I suggest you find used items for projects like this so they are cheap or free and give old junk a new life.

• (1) Softball (12′ circumference / 3.8′ diameter) Be certain it’s a softball and not hard/baseball.
• (120) 3-4” Flat-head nails.
• (1) 3-foot metal threaded rod– 1/8 diameter (could also use rebar but a slender stem looks best).
• Spray paint (purple, green, or whatever colors you choose).
• Cordless drill and 1/8” (or smaller) drill bit.
• Safety gloves, eye protection, clothes protection (the usual precautions).
• Cardboard box (for spray painting).

Steps

1Spray Paint Rod

If you want to spray paint the metal rod, do this first.

2Drill Test Holes

Make a test hole in the softball with a 1/8” or smaller drill bit.

Insert a nail and confirm that it fits snugly. You’ll push it into the softball about an inch. If you need a smaller drill bit, switch it out now.

3Drill Holes

Drill holes in softball, evenly spaced over the entire surface.

Always drill at a 90-degree angle into the ball.

4Insert Rod

Insert the painted metal rod. You may need to drill a slightly larger hole in the softball to accommodate it but don’t overdo it because you want it to fit really snugly.

Once it’s secure, don’t remove it.

5Insert Nails

Insert nails into the holes, fixing them firmly in place.

6Spray Paint Flower Head

Spray paint the allium flower head.

First, cover the stem so it does not get sprayed. I use a big cardboard box for spray painting to minimize the amount of paint that gets in the air.

After the paint dries, you’re done.

Display them in your garden for year-round allium beauty in a thrift shop-repurposed kind of way.

Ongoing Care

If your climate is like mine, you probably need to apply more spray paint each year to keep them fresh-looking.

Resources

This project is included in this ebook:

Happy allium-making!

If you love over-sized garden art, there are more giant garden décor ideas here.

~Melissa the Empress of Dirt ♛