I took this pic at the St Louis zoo last Monday. I am posting it here, because it reminded me of an onion? And so I suspect it could be a bulb of some type. I think they are so pretty! It was probably a foot tall or so , sort of a 'clump'. Any ideas?
That is Chives. Close relative of onion.
Plant it once & it will be with you forever. Don't let the flowers go to seed or you will have Chives everywhere.
Used as a garnish.
Bernie
do they bloom off an on or just once in the spring?
Once in the spring. Ask for some seeds if you want to grow them. Plenty of people will have some. I love to use the chives with my potatos.
If you want a start I've got one to spare.
I think I'll pass, I was hoping they would bloom off and on, but if they only bloom in the spring, I don't think I 'need' that! I have a bunch of iris blooming right now.
Thanks for offering, I appreciate it.
They only bloom once, but the foliage is fresh & green all summer.. and you can snip it for salads, dip, baked potatoes, cottage cheese, omelets...
I have a patch of garlic chives in the front that I love... they don't flower until the very end of summer, when they are much appreciated by the bees & butterflies!
Sally wrote about chives: http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/865/
I have what looks like the garlic chives in the article that critterologist referred to - it has white flowers, and, yes, it does spread, but with some diligence, can be kept under control. The flowers in the photo at the start of this thread is pinkish. So would that be plain chives, and the whitish ones are the garlic chives? I have only heard of "chives."
the leaves on garlic chives are more flattened (regular chives have a fairly round cross-section), and the flavor is more pungent. I think regular chives come in several variations with different bloom colors.
Thanks for the explanation. I had this clump growing in my garden three years ago, and it has spread here and there. I thought it was edible (since it probably came from my compost pile), but I was never really sure what it was. It looks exactly like Sally's photos, I went out to check the leaves - flattened....so I went out and picked some in the twilight, and am now having a garlic chive/mushroom/egg evening snack.
Yum! I'll be right over.
;-)
Better hurry - it is fast disappearing. LoL
I kept it alive for years since I figured I would find out what it is one of these days - and thanks to critterologist, now I know. I even used it in my white arrangement last year.
Oh my, that's stunning... peruvian daffs, a white dahlia maybe?, and those must be white glads... love all the different flower forms as well as the variety of foliage in that arrangement!
I was wondering ifvanyone could spare some chives seeds or bulbs?
