Is there really an onion plant that walks? The honest answer....YES! Absolutely! Well now, how can an onion plant walk? Here's the incredible story:

The Egyptian Walking Onion plant starts out growing just like any other onion plant in the early spring. It could be mistaken for an ordinary onion until around May. That's when the magic happens. In May, the Egyptian Walking Onion plant grows something marvelous at the top of its stalk. While all the other onion plants are busy growing a nice round puff ball of flowers, the Egyptian Walking Onion is growing miniature versions of itself! That's right! It's growing a cluster ball of cute little onion sets on the top of its stalk!

As the summer months roll on, the topsets continue to grow to their full size, and some will get get pretty heavy for a tall onion stalk. Eventually, the stalk gets pulled over from the weight of the topsets, and they land on the ground, which may be up to 3 feet from the parent plant. If left to their own devices, the newly fallen topsets will take root and grow new Egyptian Walking Onion plants right where they landed. The new plants will, in turn, grow their own topsets, which will eventually pull over, hit the ground, and take root. In this fashion, the Egyptian Walking Onion walks around the garden! Where they are headed is anybody's guess.

A ground level view of Egyptian Walking Onion plants doing their thing. Stalks have bent over in beautiful arches placing their topsets on promising ground. Notice the leaves of the topsets are alrady pointed straight up skyward ready to take off as soon as the topsets take root.

If conditions are right, the topsets will grow roots right into the ground where they touch down. No "planting" necessary. These topsets are just sitting on top of the soil, but conditions are favorable: there is a sprinkler that comes on periodically keeping the area moist. Add the warm sun of the early autumn days and some well drained soil, and voila! you have the recipe for growing Egyptian Walking Onions. See our planting page for more information about growing Egyptian Walking Onions.

How Do Egyptian Walking Onions Really Walk?

Do Egyptian Walking Onions walk simply because the cluster of topsets at the top becomes heavy enough to pull the plant over? Or is something else going on? Let’s take another look.

Over many years of observations, I have watched these remarkable plants “walk". I am convinced that they kind of "know" where they are going - or know where they "want" to go. They seem to be on the march after their developing topsets break free from their protective spathe, and are still green, growing, and less than half of their final size. Because these plants start to move even before their topsets reach full size, I don't think it is the weight of the topsets that gives them their walking shoes. I think they deliberately "decide" to arch themselves over, so as to touch down onto prime growing ground. If there is a spot of bare soil nearby close enough to reach, it seems the plant will bend towards it. Sometimes it even seems that they arch over to "probe" the ground for growing conditions, and if the conditions are not suitable, they will bend themselves back up towards the sky or around in a loop. I have observed plants with a large cluster of topsets remain upright while plants with smaller, lighter clusters are completely arched over and touching the ground. So weight doesn't really seem to be the primary factor. Yes, some stalks do have big, heavy topsets that can weigh the plant down, and sometimes the stalk will even break over. But in general, the arching movements of the stalks seem to be voluntary.

This Egyptian Walking Onion plant appears to have first arched itself towards the main clump of plants, and upon finding no room or bare ground, it continued curving around until it finally found some bare soil. Thus, creating a complete loop, and apparently not just arching or breaking over due to weight alone.

An Egyptian Walking Onion plant that grew in a circle around a little yellow pansy flower and found some suitable soil. Ring-around-the-pansy? You can see the topset leaves are already oriented and growing straight up in preparation for taking root.

Plants growing in the center of a dense clump usually remain upright and straight. Those growing near the edge of the clump, where open soil is accessible, are much more likely to bend over and set their topsets on the ground. This pattern strongly suggests that the plants are responding to environmental cues rather than simply collapsing under the weight of their bulbils.

These plants have arched over to look for bare ground, only to find more plants. They have raised their topsets back up, as if to change their mind, and perhaps try again in a new direction. The plants seems to be responding to unfavorable conditions and adjusting their growth accordingly, rather than simply falling over due to weight.

These Egyptian Walking Onion plants are at the edge of their garden patch. They have arched over towards the open grassy area beyond the garden border. The open area may have initially appeared inviting to the Egyptian Walking Onion plants, but it is also a high-disturbance zone. The grass here is mowed regularly. The plants seem to be “retreating” toward safer ground perhaps after a close encounter with the mowing equipment.

This Egyptian Walking Onion plant was originally standing straight up like an arrow. But one day I found this awesome clawfoot bathtub and decided to use it as a raised garden bed. I placed it next to the garden in a spot that just happened to be near this plant. I filled the bathtub full aged compost and planted some Egyptian Walking Onion bulbs in it. Soon after, the upright Egyptian Walking Onion plant began to arch over towards the bathtub, and placed its topset cluster right inside the tub on the soft, rich compost! The individual topset leaves really began to grow. Now that's one smart Egyptian Walking Onion plant!

Taken together, these observations suggest that Egyptian Walking Onions can "walk" not only by the weight of their topsets pulling the stalk over, but also by the deliberate arching and looping movements of their stalk. They appear to respond directionally to their surroundings, bending and adjusting their growth in ways that increase the chance their offspring will land in favorable, open, and undisturbed soil. How they do this? I think water definitely plays a role. If the plants are well hydrated, their stalks can bend and arch without breaking. If the plants are on the dry side, the stalk usually just bends over with a crease from the weight of the topsets. When this happens, the stalk is "broken" and cannot move around anymore. The topsets simply just hang there until the stalk dries out completely, and then they fall to the ground.

Plants are known to move through phototropism (houseplants growing toward a window) and heliotropism (sunflowers fowllowing the sun). They can also move through thigmotropin - the sense of touch. Vines use this method to find support. Maybe the Egyptian Walking Onion has its own sense (tropin) that it uses to find open ground for its topsets.