I would think that 3 inches of leaves would be enough. That's about what I leave when I cut mine, and they come back vigorously.

Agreed. Chives are sturdy and robust enough to bounce back from "zealous" lawn care. You can let your husband (?) off the hook.....but maybe you could get a couple of new plants out of it first!! ;)

FataMorgana

Ditto what FM said for me!

LOL thanks everyone! It was actually my brother that did it, and now that I know it will more than likely bounce back, I won't get on him too bad about it :) Again, thanks for your replies!

Rest assured. you can cut chives(flat leave, garlic chives), leeks, ... down to the bare ground and they will come back even with more vigor. I always do this with my leeks, when they are young, so that I can have them instead of garlic chives. Butthan , later I woul let them get thicker.

From my experience, chives cannot be killed in the garden. I read somewhere that chives were a good companion plant for roses...big (painful) mistake.