15 Onion Varieties to Plant in March
With their crunchy texture and savory, pungent flavor, onions add a “wow” factor to meals. Whether you grow them from seeds or starts, these crops are essential for kitchen and cottage gardens. Join seasoned grower Jerad Bryant in discovering the 15 best onions to plant in March.
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There are many reasons to plant onions! Not only are they delicious, but they’re also natural pest repellants. Their intense odor keeps pesky insects away from your tender tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants.
Which onion variety is best for March planting depends on your taste preferences and the climate. There are three main bulbing onions: long, intermediate, and short day. The categories tell you how many daylight hours each variety needs to form a mature bulb.
The further south you are in the U.S., the fewer daylight hours you have in summer than in northern regions. Grow short-day onions in warm, southern climates and long-day types in cool, northern ones. Intermediate day types work well in the areas between the two. Use this chart to help you decide on a category:
| Onion Type | Required Summer Daylight Hours | Hardiness Zones | Latitude |
| Long Day | 14-16 | 2-6 | 38-50° |
| Intermediate Day | 12-14 | 5-6 | 33-40° |
| Short Day | 10-12 | 7-9 | 20-35° |
If your growing zone falls outside these ranges, consider growing green onions! Also called scallions or bunching onions, these varieties grow edible foliage off small bulbs. Pull them whole for a large crop, or snip their tops and let them regrow for continuous harvesting.
So, which kinds are best for planting this month? We’ll start with long-day types and work our way through each category. Without further ado, here are 15 onion varieties to plant in March.
Long Day
Long day onions grow best in northern states because of their daylight preferences. They require 14 to 16 hours of sunlight daily to form bulbs.
Because northern regions are closer to the North Pole, they receive significant shifts in day length as the seasons progress. They have long, warm summer days and short, cold winter ones. This change in daylight length is perfect for growing these four varieties.
‘Walla Walla’
‘Walla Walla’ is my personal favorite! It sprouts a big, juicy bulb with sweet, yellow flesh. It doesn’t store well, though it’s perfect for fresh eating and short-term storage.
Its cultivation began in Italy in the 1800s when the French soldier Peter Pieri found seeds and began cultivating them. He and his neighbors loved the taste and cold hardiness of the variety, so they bred the onion further over a few generations.
The result is the ‘Walla Walla’ we know and love today. It’s popular in Washington, where it thrives with frequent rainfall, cool spring temperatures, and long summer days.
‘Yellow Sweet Spanish Utah’
Another large onion variety with exceptionally sweet flesh, ‘Yellow Sweet Spanish Utah’ grows well from a March or April planting. It thrives in the upper states with long summer days. Avoid growing it if you live in Texas, Southern California, or Florida. It prefers moist, cool springs and long, warm summers to form big bulbs.
Unlike ‘Walla Walla,’ ‘Yellow Sweet Spanish Utah’ stores well for a few weeks in the pantry. The key to proper storage is curing, where you dry the bulbs’ outer layers to seal them. After harvesting, place the crops in a warm, dry location with regular airflow for a week.
When the week is over, cut the tops to one inch long and the roots to a quarter inch. The dry, cured bulbs store well in pantries, cellars, or garages. They need high humidity and cool temperatures to prevent sprouting or molds.
‘Red Zeppelin’
‘Red Zeppelin’ is a rocking onion variety for March. It has purple-red flesh and a crunchy texture. It’s perfect for cooks who love tangy, fresh, and purple onions in salads and stews. Though it has a long maturing period, the bulbs store for eight months or longer in cold storage!
‘Red Zeppelin’ seed packets will say that these plants need 100 to 110 days to mature. This means you’ll want to start seeds three to four months before you intend to harvest. You have two options: start seeds indoors or outdoors.
We recommend starting them indoors for transplanting outdoors four to six weeks before the last frost date. After they harden off outside, onions are frost tolerant and love maturing under cool weather.
You may also germinate them outdoors. Plant them where you want them to grow four to six weeks before the last frost. They’ll germinate slower and take longer to mature to the size of indoor starts. If you have the space and time, try starting seeds indoors for big bulbs at harvest time.
‘Zebrune’
‘Zebrune’ is a small bulb-producing variety that’s the perfect mix between shallots and bulbing onions. It grows elongated, thin shallots with brown papery skin. Easy to peel and delicious to taste, ‘Zebrune’ is a must-grow onion for home cooks and professional chefs.
This variety is unique because of its parental lineage; it’s a cross between bulbs and shallots. Though it’s technically a long day variety, you may harvest the plants at any size after the bottoms start swelling. For full-size harvests, wait until the tops die and fall over before pulling the plants out of the ground.
Intermediate Day
Intermediate day cultivars are the happy medium of onion varieties for planting in March in the middle of the U.S. They need anywhere from 12 to 14 hours of continuous daylight to form bulbs, and they perform best in the middle states of America like Northern California, Kansas, and North Carolina.
‘Gladstone’
A white type, ‘Gladstone’ grows long, wide, and crunchy white rings that are mild, tangy, and juicy. The rings chop up well in fresh recipes and are the perfect garnish on prepared meals. Though most white cultivars are meant for fresh eating, ‘Gladstone’ is versatile. It cooks well and tastes great fresh.
Though intermediate cultivars need fewer daylight hours than long ones, they still benefit from an indoor starting period. Plant them three to four months before your intended harvest date, moving them outside a month before the final frost for your growing zone.
‘Cabernet’
‘Cabernet’ is a lush, burgundy-red cultivar that’s picturesque and delicious! It’s an iconic variety that many canners use in homemade jams. The purple color blends well with berries, apples, and pears. The rings fit in jams and are incredibly fresh-tasting in salads, sandwiches, and burgers.
‘Cabernet’ bulbs form round, even globes that reach two to three inches in diameter. They bulb up nicely in the middle states of America and store well for about six months after drying and curing. The earlier you start seeds and get the plants in the ground, the bigger the bulbs will grow.
‘Red Amposta’
‘Red Amposta’ grows similarly to ‘Cabernet’ with red skin and juicy rings. The difference lies inside the skin—the rings have white and purple stripes! They chop up nicely for fresh dishes, and they cook down well in soups, sautés, and baked recipes.
‘Red Amposta’ grows larger than ‘Cabernet,’ with a mature diameter range of three to four inches. Harvest them when their tops turn from green to yellow and fall over, then dry and cure them for storage. They store well, lasting throughout the winter months without sprouting.
‘Flat of Italy’
An old, historical variety from Italy, ‘Flat of Italy’ produces long, flat bulbs that look like purple flying saucers! This is one of the oldest types available, as it was popular with gardeners in Italy in the late 1800s. Try it in your garden to experience the flavor growers have enjoyed for over a century.
The immense flavor of the rings bleeds into whatever you cook them with. Try sauteing your harvest alongside garlic, peppers, and broccoli for a garden stir-fry or roasting them for use on burgers and sandwiches.
Short Day
Growers in southern latitudes are the best candidates for planting short day onion varieties in March! These cultivars need 10 to 12 hours of daily sunlight to thrive during the summer and survive better in warm climates than the other types. They’re ideal for gardeners from Southern California east through Texas and Florida.
‘Texas Early Grano’
‘Texas Early Grano’ grows sweet, soft, and yellow flesh that cooks well, forming savory grilled or sautéed onions. This cultivar came out in 1944 after breeders at Texas A&M University produced it from Spanish varieties. Reliable in warm zones, it’s the perfect choice if your garden has mild winters without significant frosts.
Growers love this type for its extra large harvests—the bulbs can reach up to a pound in weight and the size of a softball! Instead of starting seeds in spring for a summer harvest, you’ll plant them in the fall for a late spring harvest.
Gardeners in northern states can try cultivating it in a greenhouse from late summer through spring to cheat the seasons. Use your crop shortly after curing it, as this type doesn’t store as well as other kinds.
‘Yellow Granex PRR’
This kind is similar to the previous cultivar; it sprouts large, white rings that are mild and sweet. Around the bulbs sprout brown, papery skin that’s easy to peel. Though ‘Yellow Granex PRR’ takes a long time to mature, from 110 to 160 days, its exceptional flavor is worth the wait.
As with the previous variety, you’ll want to plant seeds in the fall for a late spring harvest. The plants are ready for pulling when they reach swell from three to four inches wide.
‘Gabriella’
‘Gabriella’ is an alternative to the previous two short day onions. It sprouts giant three to four-and-a-half-inch bulbs that store well for two to three months. The plants grow best during the coolest months in warm regions, from fall through spring.
‘Gabriella’ requires 160 days to mature from seed to harvest. Grant the plants a protected site free from excessive heat, wind, and sunlight. You’ll know they’re ready to pull when they sprout gigantic, round, and fleshy bulbs with brown papery coatings.
Scallions
Scallions, or bunching onions, are small bulbous vegetables that gardeners cultivate for their foliage. You’ll commonly see these veggies in grocery stores labeled “green onions.” You can chop them for salads or garnishes, or try sautéing them whole in cooked recipes.
‘Warrior’
This bunching variety excels in a wide variety of climates, growing best from late winter through early summer. ‘Warrior’ is perfect for gardeners in extremely cold or warm zones, as the plant grows well despite environmental challenges.
Though ‘Warrior’ sprouts delicious, crunchy leaves, it also grows small whitish bulbs when given sufficient space in the soil. Harvest them before the tops fall over so you can enjoy the green tops with the white bulbous portions. Alternatively, you may cut the tops off and let them regrow for continuous harvesting.
‘Tokyo Long White’
‘Tokyo Long White’ sprouts heat-resistant scallion tops that taste superb chopped in sautés, salads, and stews. This is a great scallion variety to plant in March if you want a quicker harvest than regular onions. They’re blue-green and shine bright under the summer sunshine. You may chop them and let them regrow, or you may harvest the Japanese scallions when they’re full size.
This variety takes to blanching well. Blanching is a growing technique that shields aboveground foliage from the sun, turning it white instead of green. It’s desirable for the lush, creamy, and crunchy flesh it forms. To blanch, cover the lower portions of the stalks with coco coir, compost, or straw for a few days. You may also use a milk carton, paper bag, or cardboard.
‘White Lisbon’
A scallion of the ages, ‘White Lisbon’ is a long-cultivated variety from the 1700s. It sprouts thin green shoots and small white bulbous portions. This kind benefits from dense plantings—sow many seeds close together, and don’t thin them. Their proximity to each other will help them stay thin and round while they mature.
‘White Lisbon’ is more cold and heat tolerant than most other bunching types; it’s perfect for zones that struggle to grow bulbous cultivars. Sow them in early spring and make successive sowings all summer for bunches of green onions.
‘Italian Red of Florence’
The final onion rounds out this list in style! ‘Italian Red of Florence’ scallions are bright red, bunching, and vigorous. Above their bulbous stems sprout strappy green leaves that come again after cutting. They’re hard to find in stores, meaning growing these scallions may be the only way to source them for your kitchen.
Sow ‘Italian Red of Florence’ during fall for spring harvest in mild zones without harsh winter frosts. In all other regions, plant them outdoors in early spring. Thin them if you’d like big bulbs; otherwise, let them grow densely for thin ones.
