Growing Guide
 
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Chives

Herbaceous Perennial Flower, Herb, Vegetable (Cool Season) - Onion Family

Allium schoenoprasum
Alliaceae Family

Great for dressing up potatoes and spicing up salads, this easy-to-grow Allium’s pinkish-lavender flowers make an attractive clump or edging in flower gardens.

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Site Characteristics
Sunlight:
  • full sun
  • part shade

Soil conditions:

  • tolerates acid soil
  • tolerates droughty soil
  • tolerates damp soil
  • tolerates low fertility
While chives will tolerate a wide range of soil conditions, they prefer slightly acid soil (pH 6.2 to 6.8) with moderate fertility and high organic matter.

Hardiness zones:

  • 3 to 9
Chinese and garlic chives (Allium tuberosum) are slightly less hardy, only to Zone 4 without extra winter protection.

Special locations:

  • outdoor containers
  • rock gardens
Plant Traits

Lifecycle: perennial

Ease-of-care: easy

Height: 0.5 to 1 feet

Chinese and garlic chives (Allium tuberosum) grow up to 2 feet tall.

Bloom time:

  • late spring
  • early summer
  • late summer
  • early fall

Flower color:

  • red
  • violet
  • white
  • pink

The common garden chive has pinkish lavender flowers. The cultivar ‘Forescate’ has rose red flowers. 'Corsica" and 'albiflorum' have white flowers. Chinese and garlic chives (Allium tuberosum) have white flowers.

Foliage color: medium green

Foliage texture: fine

Shape:

  • cushion, mound or clump
  • upright
  • grass-like

Spreading clump of upright, grass-like leaves.

Special Considerations
Special characteristics:
  • deer resistant
  • not native to North America - Mediterranean origin
  • evergreen - In cold areas, dies back to the ground.
Special uses:
  • cut flowers
  • edible flowers
  • edible landscaping
Growing Information
How to plant:

Propagate by seed, division or separation - Direct seed, divide or transplant in spring or fall.

Germination temperature: 45 F to 95 F

Days to emergence: 7 to 21

Seed can be saved 3 years.

Maintenance and care:
In spring or fall, direct seed onto well-prepared seedbed (covering very lightly), or transplant established plants. (If starting from seed, plants probably won’t be large enough to harvest for at least a year.)

Regular cutting helps keep plants vigorous and healthy and encourages spreading. Keep flowers picked to discourage dormancy in warm weather.

No fertilizer is needed if planted in reasonably fertile soil. Plants harvested frequently benefit from nitrogen top-dressing.

Divide and replant clump in fresh soil every three to five years.

More growing information: How to Grow Perennials

Pests:
Not usually harmed.
Diseases:
Not usually infected.
Varieties
Browse chive varieties at our Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners website.


The cultivar ‘Forescate’ has rose red flowers. 'Corsica' and 'albiflorum' have white flowers.

Garlic chives and Chinese chives both have garlic flavor, and belong to a different species, Allium tuberosum. They grow taller (up to 2 feet) than common garden chives, and have white flowers.