I WS'd them this year for the flowers. Several butterflies particularly like them, however, they didn't flower this year. Hopefully, next year.

I came upon them by accident last year when I saw them in a Chinese nursery called Chinese chives. They were just a small clump so I never used any of them. I was so taken with the flowers that I have continued to grow them this year as an ornamental. Searching on the internet made me realize that we called them garlic chives. They add interest to my herb garden at this time of the year, and I happen to be partial to white flowers. I am thinking of moving a few to my rock garden where I have a few other alliums.

I planted mine for the flowers to attract butterflies and have never used it in any recipes but my clump is getting big enough now that I could sacrifice some for potatoes. Sounds good.
Mine's been in bloom since around the end of August I think. It's held up very well in our hotter and drier than normal summer by the way.

I have a small clump that I'm treating as an ornamental until it gets to be a big clump. I really like regular chives as flowers -- bright blue for about a month.

Just discovered a few clumps that were left over from the location of a former herb garden! What a treat for the eyes!
Especially now when I've lost so many things to the drought.

Chris

I have several clumps throughout a perennial flower bed for the flowers - both regular chives and garlic chives. They do well in the intense sun and heat of New Mexico plus they serve a useful purpose of also being edible.

I use my chives by plucking off several out of different areas in the clump, not the flower stems themselves and snip them into small pieces and dry them out in a bowl. Then we use them in bowls of taters and they are especially tasty when you make frozen corn in a pan, a bit of water, some butter, chives and minced dried onions. My family loves frozen corn cooked up this way.

~Tina

I love garlic chive flowers!

They emerge in my garden near the end of the season when some other plants are beyond their prime, and they last a long time.

The best thing - they attract hundreds of insects. Insects that I never see except around the chives. It is fascinating to watch the hordes of different insects.

I've got some I rescued when I saw they were still alive after bringing them in from growing from seed their first year and literally dumping them in a pile of soil I thought I'd mix and use again. They were like that for months. To tell the truth, I felt sorry for them when I saw there was still a little green in them, dry as a bone, and they taught me how most living things want to live. So I put them in a middle size pot with fresh soil on my step ladder by an east window in the breakfast room I use as my potting shed lol. They fell off once and lost some soil. Should put them in a different pot with fresh soil again.

It took about 4 years, but they flower, one set another one, I didn't pay much attention because I didn't expect much.

They say they are invasive. Well my clump finally migrated to the center of a smallish pot and looks like 4 or 5 little onions on the bottom lol. They bounce back fast after getting a haircut.

I snip them into all sorts of things, mostly to add interest. I can't taste them. They are especially nice when I cook my potpourri of baked fish or baked potatoes and sour cream when I don't have green onions.

If I bite into a little piece, I can taste them, but I can't in whatever I've snipped them into, and I pile a lot on my potatoes. I guess I like the look of it if nothing else.

I grew them a few years ago for the flowers, and as a bonus I harvested the dried seed-heads and used them in a dried arrangement. On the down side, you will still have the odor of garlic coming from them; if you don't mind that you will have some nice looking dried material.

The delicate flowers are a lovely addition to any garden. They produce an abundance of seeds, too. I do remember that the pollinators loved them.

I've got one ready to bloom, will pay more attention. I can't smell them, but it's not a full pot, don't know why they've spread so slowly. But I took a nibble after I posted, and they have a bite, a little bitter, and garlic flavor, definitely a strong taste from the equivalent of one little snip. But I like the bulb garlic when I really want garlic flavor in cooking, maybe both.

Yes we have Garlic chives planted in our Butterfly garden at Silver Lake Nature center and they are blooming away right now. They're a great plant with the double bonus of being edible and wonderfully flavorful!! So easy to grow too!
Joann

I guess I read early on they're invasive. Now if they're pretty I guess I don't much care if they are or not. I should get some going inside and out after reading this thread.

I had a hard time getting rid of all my garlic chives. They reseeded invasively even in my hard clay. I pulled them for years.