In my experience, garlic chives will spread profusely by seed, but you can cut
the flower heads off before they go to seed to help that.

susan

Bunny McElwee wrote:

Thank you both for your information. I've only grown them in one pot,
but it does appear that it has stayed in its own little "mound". I'd like to
plant them around a tree in my front yard, both for the beautiful flowers,
and for the chives. Is there anything I should know about cutting them back
or anything, say in winter? As I said in my previous message, I had one in a
pot and it stayed out all winter, and even got two days of snow (Charleston,
SC - Little to no snow) and while it had a little bit of the foliage die
back around the outer edges, the middle sprang tons of new growth and then
tons of flowers, and is still sending out flowers today. How long will the
plant flower and should I cut it back in the winter?

I have a deer problem and will be putting chives and
related plants in containers randomly throughout
the fruit orchard in order to keep the deer away
(supposedly they don't like the smell). I usually
always have chives in the herb garden and then tend
to stay put and grow every year in the same spot with
little spread.

Gayle

Bunny McElwee wrote:

I had a pot of chives from last year that I let go over the winter
months and actually thought I had killed it. Its in a pot now, and even
after being covered in snow, it came back and now has tons of purple
flowers
on it. I've heard of people using them in their landscapes, but is this
a
good idea? Do they spread or stay in one clump? Do they go to seed
prolifically and create many more plants around them? What are your
experiences with using them in the landscape? They are such beautiful
flowers, it seems a shame to not utilize the flowers as well as gain
from
the chive production.

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Gayle Surrette STC at NOAA/NESDIS/IPD
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