Onion chives (purple pompom flowers, hollow leaves) and garlic chives (white flowers, flat leaves). Perennial clumps for pot edges and herb beds — and, like all alliums, off the menu for pets.
Chives are the low-maintenance herb of the bunch: a grassy clump that comes back every year, tolerates morning sun and afternoon shade, and gives you a mild onion or garlic snip whenever you want it. Onion chives have hollow round leaves and lavender pompom flowers in spring; garlic chives have flat leaves, a garlicky flavor, and white flower heads in late summer that bees swarm.
We commonly carry both onion chives and organic garlic chives. Both are alliums and toxic to cats and dogs, so site them out of reach. The rest of the edible benches are on our Herbs & Vegetables page.
These are the chives varieties we commonly carry. Availability changes week to week and season to season, so call (480) 987-3308 or stop in to see what’s on the bench today.
Flat, strap-like leaves with a garlic flavor and white starry flower heads in late summer. Tougher in heat than onion chives and stays green through summer with shade and water.
Hollow, round, grassy leaves with a mild onion flavor and lavender pompom flowers in spring. Clumps to a foot tall. May go dormant in the hottest weeks and return in fall.
Looking for one that isn’t listed? Ask — we can usually suggest a close match or tell you when it tends to come around.
The care tag was written somewhere else. This is the Queen Creek version.
October through March for both, or spring through April for onion chives. Fall-planted clumps are well established by summer. Garlic chives can go in any time the weather is mild.
Rich, well-drained soil or a good potting mix. Keep evenly moist — every two to three days in spring and fall, daily for pots in summer, weekly in winter. Chives in dry soil turn tough and yellow-tipped.
Onion chives often yellow and die back in July; cut them to the ground, keep the pot lightly watered in shade, and they return in September. Divide clumps every two or three years in fall, replanting pieces of eight to ten bulbs. Garlic chives self-seed freely — deadhead the white flowers before they drop seed unless you want more.
Full sun through the cool months; morning sun and afternoon shade from May through September. Onion chives in full summer sun brown off and go dormant; garlic chives tolerate more heat but still prefer afternoon shade here.
Snip leaves an inch above the soil with scissors, cutting a section of the clump at a time rather than the tips of every leaf; the cut section regrows in a couple of weeks. Flowers are edible — the onion-chive pompoms make a pink vinegar.
A balanced fertilizer in spring and again in fall. Aphids occasionally; hose them off. Onion and garlic chives are toxic to cats and dogs if eaten in quantity — keep them where pets don’t graze.
Photo of the bed, how much sun it gets and what you want to eat — we’ll match varieties and planting dates to it. Advice is free.
We stock raised-bed and vegetable planting mix, compost and steer manure by the bag or the yard, organic vegetable fertilizers, tomato cages and stakes, shade cloth for the May-to-September stretch, frost cloth for January, and drip fittings. The pottery yard has half-barrels and 15-gallon pots for patio vegetables, and soil and mulch is sold by the bag or by the yard.
Onion chives go dormant in extreme heat. Cut them to the ground, keep the soil lightly moist in shade, and they return in fall. Garlic chives handle summer better with afternoon shade.
Every two to three days in spring and fall, daily for pots in summer, weekly in winter. They like even moisture.
Cut a section of the clump an inch above the soil with scissors rather than snipping tips. It regrows in two weeks.
Onion chives have hollow round leaves, an onion flavor and purple spring flowers. Garlic chives have flat leaves, a garlic flavor and white late-summer flowers, and they take more heat.
No — all alliums are toxic to cats and dogs. Grow them out of reach.
Yes, both are perennial in Queen Creek. Divide the clumps every two or three years to keep them vigorous.
Chives live on the herb and vegetable benches; any staff member can point you to them. Locally owned, and a short drive from San Tan Valley, Gilbert, Chandler and Mesa.