Native to Europe and the Mediterranean, Ornithogalum umbellatum has been grown in gardens for centuries, admired for its fragrant white spring flowers and low maintenance. The umbels of white blooms, each petal striped with a green midrib on the outside, open reliably from late spring into early summer and attract bees with genuine purpose. At six to twelve inches, the plant is well-scaled for rock gardens, woodland edges, and the fronts of borders where it will gradually colonize available ground.

That colonizing tendency deserves honest mention: this species spreads by offsets and self-sows with considerable ambition, and has escaped cultivation widely enough to be classified a noxious weed in Alabama. In a wild garden or naturalistic setting it is a charming companion for late tulips and early alliums, but it is poorly suited to mixed borders where it may eventually crowd out less vigorous neighbors. Plant bulbs five inches deep with generous spacing, and site it somewhere its enthusiasm will be welcomed rather than managed.