What are these flowers?

Factual Questions
1

Today while driving past some townhouses, I saw some really cool flowers in the gardens next to the street. Mind you, I was driving, so I didn’t get all the details.

  • they consisted of a single stalk with a single big purple flower on top
  • the flower was a sphere, maybe 3"-4" in diameter
  • altogether the plant was between 2 and 3 feet tall
  • there were some leaves near the ground at the base of the stalk. They looked a little bit like tulip leaves

I’ve never seen a flower like this before, and must have one for myself. They look like something out of Dr. Seuss!

2

Maybe dahlias? I’ve seen some huge ones on really tall stalks.

3

That sounds like Ornamental Onion.

Try google images for that.

4

Allium?
I don’t usually think of the leaves as tulip-like, but there is some leaf variety among the ornamental onions.

5

Ornamental Onion - that’s it! As always, the Dope comes through. :smiley: