garden adventurer WRITTEN AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY L.A. JACKSON
Double-Duty Delight: Garlic Chives I DON’T HAVE ANY PROBLEM being a cheapskate gardener. So, when I find a plant that looks great and tastes good — call-it a double-duty delight, if you will — I figure it delivers twice the thrills without twice the price, and chances are good it will come home with me. Many herbs perform well as such double-duty plants, and one that turns my head is garlic chive (Allium tuberosum). A close cousin to the common chive (Allium schoenoprasm), a cutie sporting pleasing purplish-pink blooms, garlic chives have more spunk in their flower towers, which rise on sturdy stems up to 2 feet or higher over skinny, strap-like leaves and explode into starry white blossom clusters — a display well suited to visually hold its own in any flower bed. Garlic chives in bloom certainly have the looks to attract your attention, but expect competition from bees and butterflies, who also love the flowers. Not so with Bambi, however, as deer steer clear of this herb. Garlic chives can be planted in early spring, and they are easily grown from seeds, but for quicker results this growing season, opt instead for transplants, which will be easy to find at local garden shops this time of year. Whether as an addition to the herb garden or an ornamental bed, garlic chives perform best in loamy, well-draining beds. An ideal planting site is a location that basks in the morning sun but settles into light shade in the afternoon. And since this pretty will suffer in soggy soil, potted plantings are certainly an option. Although tempting, don’t overharvest the tasty leaves this summer. Their first year in the garden is usually a transition period when these perennials are absorbing energy The bright bloom clusters of garlic chives are hard to miss in any garden. 118
MARCH 2022
