Contact: Diane Relf, Extension Specialist, Environmental Horticulture
Posted April 1997
Two of the most attractive plants for the flower border are also two of the most useful herbs for the kitchen. Chives will provide the cook with a source of a mild onion flavor; garlic chives will do likewise, but the flavor is garlic instead of onion. Both plants are easy to grow and productive from spring until hard frosts.
Chives and garlic chives are members of the onion family. They prefer sunny sites with good drainage and will thrive with little attention. Provide plenty of water and an occasional light fertilization for vigorous growth, but even without such care, the plants will likely survive and even flourish.
Chives are hardy perennials which grow into clumps that are twelve inches high and six or more inches wide. In early summer, established plants will produce clusters of flowers, usually light purple, which are also edible if picked before seed begins to form. Shear the plant at any time to harvest the foliage. It will quickly put out tender new growth. If possible, grow chives near the kitchen door so they are handy when needed in a recipe. Chives do not dry well, but they can be potted up for winter growth indoors.
Garlic chives are also hardy perennials. The foliage is flat rather than hollow, and grows to about twelve inches high. The flower stalks grow up to 30 inches high, topped with greenish-white flower heads which are quite showy. The mild garlic flavor of the foliage is useful in many foods, particularly oriental dishes. As with chives, garlic chives are harvested by shearing the leaves at ground level. Older leaves become coarse, so shear the plants occasionally even if you have no immediate use for the herb. This will encourage the plants to produce the desirable tender shoots.
Chives and garlic chives can be propagated by dividing existing clumps or from seed. To divide a clump, shear it, dig it up, and pull or cut it into three to six new plants. Replant the divisions, water and fertilize them, and they soon will be producing new leaves. If using seed, direct seed the plants in their permanent growing location, or start them indoors. When starting garlic chives from seed, use only seed which has just been harvested. Chive seed, like onion seed, is also short-lived, but need not be planted immediately after harvest as garlic chive seed must. Both species self-seed readily and can become a pest. Prevent this by shearing flower heads from the plants before seed forms.
(Prepared by Ellen Silva, Extension Technician, Consumer Horticulture, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0327.)
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