Best Spring Onion Varieties for Scotland

Spring onion varieties taste much the same. Where they differ is in how long a sowing stays usable before it swells or boltsA plant switching early into flowering and seed production, usually triggered by stress, after which leaves, roots or bulbs turn bitter or unusable. Full page →, and whether it survives a winter from an autumn sowing. In Scotland that second point matters most.

What Scotland means for the choice

A hardy variety sown in late summer or early autumn crops the following spring, well ahead of anything sown fresh that year. Whether it gets through depends on its hardiness ratingThe RHS's H1a–H7 scale for how much cold a plant can survive outdoors, H1a being tender indoor-only and H7 hardy anywhere in the UK. Full definition →. H3 means hardy only in coastal and relatively mild parts of the UK, roughly -5°C to 1°C, so on most Scottish plots an H3 variety needs cover through winter. H5 means hardy through a severe winter, down to about -15°C, and H4 sits between the two. The spring onion growing guide covers sowing, the overwinteringKeeping a plant alive and intact through the cold months, whether left outdoors, moved under cover, or stored dormant. Full definition → method and harvesting.

White Lisbon, Ishikura and Guardsman hold the RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGMThe RHS's Award of Garden Merit: a UK-wide trials award for reliable performance, not a Scotland-specific recommendation. Full definition →), a UK-wide award rather than a Scottish one. Photon doesn't.

White Lisbon

White Lisbon is the only one of the four described as both "suitable for successional sowingSowing a small batch of seed every couple of weeks, rather than all at once, so crops mature in a staggered sequence instead of a single glut. Full definition → throughout the year" and "suitable for overwintering". It's quick-growing, and it's an Allium cepa, a bulb onion pulled young, so its base starts to swell toward a bulb if you leave it too long. It isn't immune to bolting: that's listed among its problems, alongside onion white rot, leek rust and downy mildew.

Ishikura and Photon

Ishikura is Allium fistulosum, a different species. It forms clumps of long, straight white stems with hollow green leaves, and the stems don't swell into a bulb, so one sowing gives an "exceptionally long harvest period from summer to autumn without the need for successive sowings". At H5 it's also among the hardiest here.

Photon is another Allium fistulosum with the same kind of stems, harvested from June to October from a single sowing, and also rated H5. Ishikura and Photon are hardier than White Lisbon on paper, but they're grown for their summer-to-autumn crop. White Lisbon is the one described as suitable for overwintering, so it's the safer choice for an autumn sowing.

Guardsman

"Vigorous growth produces tall, upright leaves. Slow to produce bulbs." That slowness gives you a wider margin before an unpulled plant turns into a small bulb onion, handy if you can't always get to the plot on time. It isn't bolt resistance: bolting is listed among its problems, as it is for White Lisbon, along with bull neck (a soft, thick neck), downy mildew, neck rot, rust and white rot. At H3 it's the least hardy of the four, so give an autumn sowing a clocheA small, portable clear cover placed over an individual plant or short row to trap warmth and keep off wind, rain and pests. Full definition → or fleeceA lightweight, breathable fabric laid or draped over plants to trap a little warmth and keep off frost, wind and some flying pests. Full definition → through hard weather, or sow it in spring and summer only.

One more to know

Apache also holds the AGM. It's fast-growing, with purple-skinned bulbs and a mild flavour.

Which one for your situation

• An autumn sowing to overwinter: White Lisbon (H4), with a cloche or fleece through the hardest weeks on an exposed plot.
• One sowing that lasts summer to autumn: Ishikura or Photon.
• You can't always pull them on schedule: Guardsman, sown in spring or summer.
• Purple skins: Apache.

All four compared here can suffer from onion white rot and onion downy mildew. Ishikura and Guardsman are also prone to onion fly, and Ishikura and Photon to allium leaf miner. Protect young seedlings from slugs and snails. Any variety can bolt after a cold spell or as day length changes.

Common questions

Sources