Garlic chive time!

August 27, 2014


Like Captain von Trapp’s edelweiss, the clean and bright flowers of garlic chives (Allium tuberosum) cheer me up when I’m feeling down in the August dumps. “Won’t be long now,” they whisper. “This is summer’s last gasp.”


With puffballs of white flowers held aloft on slender stems over liriope-like leaves, garlic chives refresh everything nearby — in this case, Mexican oregano (Poliomintha longiflora) and purple fountain grass (Pennisetum setaceum).


These blossoms of snow in the August garden don’t actually help me feel any cooler. But they make me believe that soon, at least, we’ll be out of triple-digit heat.

All material © 2006-2014 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

26 responses to “Garlic chive time!”

  1. Jeanette says:

    The three digit weather is hard on so many plants. You’re right,it is nice to see something blooming. Enjoyed your photos from the Fling.

  2. TexasDeb says:

    I’m glad to see you raising their visibility this way. Garlic chives are (mostly) unsung heroes to my mind. Though they aren’t native, they attract bees when not much else is blooming in my spaces.

    For all the delicacy (and exquisite timing!) of their blossoms they are tough customers, tolerating a lot of abuse. They taste like the love child of leeks and garlic, and are delicious in stir fries, salads, folded into omelettes or stratas. After flowering the seed heads are quite attractive in dried arrangements. I’m a fan!

    • Pam/Digging says:

      You’re right about the bees, Deb. They LOVE the stuff. I haven’t dined on them myself, but I may have to try it sometime. I find it difficult to cut off flowers though. —Pam

      • TexasDeb says:

        Ooof. I was unclear. The leaves are what I cook with – haven’t tried using the flowers because I agree – it would be very hard to cut anything blooming in the August heat!

  3. Shirley says:

    They cheer me up too. Oh, wow something is happy out there in the garden!

    Your posts on plants like these are so helpful because I knew to immediately say “yes” when a gardening friend offered garlic chives for my own garden.

    • Pam/Digging says:

      They’re pretty prolific, Shirley, seeding readily into decomposed granite and divisible like daylilies. Mine came from a friend who was dividing a big patch of them. —Pam

  4. Peter/Outlaw says:

    Garlic chives are beautiful, tasty, and blooming in August is an added plus. I’ll find a place in my garden for some next year. What are these triple digit temperatures of which you speak? We’re having sort of a heat wave here with temperatures in the upper 80’s. Cooler temperatures and rain are predicted for the weekend. Go (North) West young woman! We’d love to have you join us here in garden paradise!

    • Pam/Digging says:

      Don’t tempt me, Peter! If I could somehow arrange (win the lottery) to live here in winter and spring and in the Pacific Northwest in summer and fall, I’d do it in a heartbeat. Until that happy day, I dream on, and sweat. Hope you don’t suffer too much with your upper 80s. That would be a major cool front here. We won’t see temps like that until October. —Pam

  5. Charlene West says:

    My chives are blooming beautifully and have multiplied. Love all the posts!

  6. Jane Strong says:

    Garlic chives are a welcome flower in my southern California garden right now as well. I use the flowers sprinkled over salads or tomatoes. You don’t need a lot and you have at pick them before the hard green seed starts to develop. They add a little WOW.

    • Pam/Digging says:

      Good to know, Jane. I’ve never eaten them before, only enjoyed looking at them. By the way, I can’t access your link that you left; it takes me to a Google sign-in page instead. Therefore I removed it. However I’d love to include it if it’s accessible to me and my readers. Is there any way to read your blog without having to sign into Google? —Pam

  7. Kris P says:

    We’ve been lucky to be spared the horrific heat of summer this year (at least thus far) but even temps in the 90s take their toll. I’m ready for fall! My garlic chives finished blooming weeks ago so I hope a turn in the weather is just around the corner.

  8. Hmmm, I will have to go look at my chives. I don’t think Ihave blooms yet. Just looking at them is making me hungry. 🙂

  9. Lost Roses says:

    Thanks for this post, Pam. I made shrimp scampi for dinner and was bemoaning the fact that I was out of chives. No, I’m not. Garlic chives are right outside the door but I’ve been admiring their flower heads so much it didn’t occur to me to eat them!

    • Pam/Digging says:

      And I didn’t even talk about eating them, though several commenters here did. Were you able to sacrifice a few of those pretty blooms for your dish? —Pam

  10. Mine are just starting to bloom too…they are a welcome sight now but alas they spell summers end as you say.

  11. Tina says:

    I want some! I’ve known about garlic chives for a long time, but only recently have they appeared on my garden radar enough to want them. Of course now, I can’t plant them soon enough.

    • Pam/Digging says:

      Tina, I’m happy to share the wealth. I’ll save a bunch of seeds for you this fall (they grow easily from seed), and the next time I divide them I’ll save some divisions for you too. —Pam