Handmade Bespoke Allium Heads

Each allium head is a hand-shaped steel sphere — finished in the colour you choose, mounted on a slim mild steel rod that pushes into the soil amongst your border planting. The result is a year-round version of an allium that looks at home alongside the real ones in early summer and continues the visual rhythm when the real heads have gone over.

• Hand-crafted — each head is made individually rather than mass-produced, so no two are exactly the same. Head sizes vary slightly between pieces
• Mounted on H600mm mild steel rod — sits at roughly border-height amongst medium perennials
• Available in a range of colours — to match your real allium planting, your wider border palette, or simply your taste
• Made to order — please allow 7-10 days for delivery while your pieces are made in the LV Bespoke workshop

Real alliums are amongst the most loved cottage garden bulbs — for very good reasons. These steel versions extend their virtues:

• Year-round structure — particularly valuable from August onwards when real allium heads start to fade. Steel heads give you the same architectural form right through the dormant season
• Winter colour — when borders are at their quietest, a small group of brightly coloured allium heads gives the eye something to settle on. Particularly lovely against frost or snow
• Fills the gap in mixed plantings — if you've planted real alliums amongst perennials and grasses, the steel versions hold the visual rhythm when the real ones disappear
• Doesn't need feeding, watering, or planting at the right depth — push the rod in where you want one, and that's the work done
• Survives the slugs — properly. Real allium emerging shoots can occasionally take damage; these don't

For dedicated allium enthusiasts (we know there are several of you out there), they're a small year-round acknowledgement of a much-loved plant.

Alliums look properly best in groups rather than as single specimens — and we offer a small discount when you buy three or more. Worth thinking about for two reasons:

• Visual logic — three allium heads at slightly different positions amongst your planting create a visual rhythm. A single piece can look isolated; three together read as part of the planting
• Colour combinations — you can match colours (three of the same for a unified statement) or mix (three colours that play together for more interest)

For larger borders, five or seven pieces in slightly different colours can be properly lovely — the same logic that applies to planting real alliums in odd-numbered groups.

• Amongst your real alliums — particularly clever to plant the steel ones with the real ones. In May-June the real ones do the work; from July onwards the steel ones quietly take over
• In a mixed perennial border — at 600mm high, they sit nicely amongst medium-height perennials like hardy geraniums, salvias, asters and nepeta
• In a gravel garden or prairie-style planting — alongside grasses and umbellifers, where their architectural form complements the surrounding airy planting
• In containers — particularly large pots with mixed planting, where they add vertical interest year-round
• In a winter border — when the real perennials have died back, a group of steel allium heads is one of the most charming pieces of structure you can have
• Against frost or snow — properly photogenic. Worth specifically choosing a colour that contrasts well with white if winter impact is what you're after
• In a child's garden or a play area — they're durable, colourful, and tactile (children genuinely love them)

• Height: Approximately 600mm steel rod plus head
• Head: Hand-crafted steel sphere; circumference varies between pieces (this is a feature of the handmade nature, not a fault)
• Material: Mild steel, finished in chosen colour
• Lead time: 7-10 days from order — each head is made to order
• Bundle pricing: Discount available when buying 3 or more
• Use: Outdoor garden — amongst planting, in containers, as year-round border structure
• Made by: LV Bespoke, North Norfolk

Unlike most LV Bespoke pieces, these are finished in colour rather than supplied as raw steel to rust. So care is slightly different:

• The colour finish protects the steel from rusting in normal use — these are designed to keep their appearance year-round outdoors
• Wipe clean occasionally if dirt or bird-mess accumulates on the heads
• Bring inside or store covered for the worst weather if you'd prefer to extend the life of the colour finish — particularly worthwhile for lighter or more delicate colours
• If the finish does eventually weather after several seasons of full exposure, the underlying steel will rust gracefully like the rest of the LV Bespoke range — so they age into a different but still considered look

The wider LV Bespoke range carries the same Norfolk-made character — pieces age beautifully alongside each other:

• Single Glass Stake, 3D Orb Stake, Bird & Insect Stakes, Butterfly Stakes — single decorative stakes for amongst planting
• Cluster of 3 Glass/Marble, Cluster of 5 Marbles, Cluster of 5 Feature Glass, Cluster of 5 Cups or Balls — grouped and splayable cluster pieces
• Bee Drinker / Cuppy, Bird Feeding Stake — stakes with functional elements
• Decorative Crown, Bespoke Marble Steel Crown — sculptural surface pieces
• Aeonium Stem Plant Support, Garden Edging — functional kit with the same considered Norfolk-made aesthetic

LV Bespoke is a small family business based in North Norfolk, hand-making garden features in their own workshop. They've exhibited at RHS shows and Gardeners' World Live, and were commissioned by the King's estate at Sandringham in 2022 to create a "Sea of Crowns" installation as part of Sandringham In Bloom — properly serious provenance for a small Norfolk maker. Each piece is made by hand in their workshop, designed to do its job quietly, age gracefully, and look like it belongs. We're proud to stock their work; objects with this kind of character don't come from factories, they come from somebody's careful hands.