Do we have any garlic chives?

"Do we have any garlic chives?" was the question my wife asked me last week. She was baking some savory scones and thought that garlic chives would make a nice combination with gouda cheese.

Asking that question though is almost like asking "Are we growing Perilla this year?" or "Have you seen any deer in the garden lately?" or "Do you still love bamboo?" The answer to all of these questions is an emphatic "YES!".

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I planted my first garlic chives (Allium tuberosum) probably a decade ago or more along with regular chives (Allium schoenoprasum) and several other herbs. There may be one small patch of regular chives -- which have rounded hollow leaves and bloom purple early in the season -- left in the garden, but the garlic chives -- which have flat leaves and bloom white late in the season -- are growing almost everywhere.

I let them though, because this is a time of the year when I could use a bit of reliable blooming, even when the rest of the veggie beds have gone fallow:

The pollinators sense that autumn is approaching too, and they too appreciate these blooms:

If you've never tasted garlic chives, they're like a mix of mild onion and mild garlic. Not really the best of snacks when you're working out in the garden, but they do work so nicely in so many recipes.

The seed heads are so attractive too, which is why I always have so many seedlings of this growing -- I leave the seeds out there too long!

A photo from 2010 showing how pretty garlic chive seed heads are

As I said though, I don't mind having these everywhere when they start blooming. I've never been able to give any of these plants (or seeds) away either -- every gardener I know grows them already!


The scones were amazing if you're wondering.

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