I love garlic chives! I think they are beautiful! I keep mine trimmed back to nice little clusters of plants. They do tend to spread, but for some reason mine do fine. The only place they can spread is into the lawn where they are promptly mowed. The others around my garden plants must get weeded.

I actually painted my garlic chives and even filmed them.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garlic Chives on Film

DtD,
I've been growing garlic chives for 10 years. I have one small clump that I winter over every year for my herb beds.
In the spring I dig it out and move it to a pot as my herbs never seem to grow well in the beds, but do wonderful in pots.

I started it from seed 10 years ago and yes, it does bloom the first year from seed as well.

I've never had it spread on me when it's been left in the bed longer than planned, like this year when it didn't get moved until July. Forgot out all about it before my spine surgery the end of June and it didn't get moved till mid July.

It might be that I have not had a problem with it spreading because I did it out every year and collect all the seeds from the plant as well.
On the other hand, a friend has the other plant that I sowed 10 years ago and she has hers in the ground and it has never spread either.

It is different from a regular culinary chive. It has a very nice mild garlic flavor and one of my daughter's favorite uses for it is to mix it in her baked potato or in with mashed potatoes and in salads.

Fran

My Garlic Chives are well-behaved too. I started mine for a small potted plant about 5 years ago. They have spread a bit, but I now have a very managable sized clump, and I can easily pull up any volunteers nearby. We use it for cooking, since my husband loves anything Garlic, and I love onions. It's a perfect marriage... :o)

Thanks for all the info! There's just nothing like hearing from people who have personal experience with a plant, is there?

I have regular chives too, and they do spread a bit, but I wouldn't consider them anywhere near invasive. Like every other member of the allium family, garlic chives really appeal to me; the bloom time (late summer) seems like a big bonus. We spend a lot of time outdoors in late August and September, because the weather is usually so nice, so I like to include lots of things that flower then. I have lots of bright colors going at the moment, and some white would be a good addition.

I will definitely pick up some of these next time I come across them!

Thanks again - DtD

Another vote for Garlic Chives! I love the pretty white flowers, they are blooming cheerfully for me now. They are EASY to grow from seed too.

They look equally as nice in an herb garden as in a perennial border or garden bed...

Garlic chives are one of the joys of my late season
garden. . .originally planted a dozen years ago in a little
"herb corner" of one of my mixed beds, it has since become
a staple in many other parts of the garden - by choice! Yes, it can seed pretty prolifically, but you can easily prevent that by deadheading as soon as bloom is done; they are just coming into bloom for me now at the end of August, and will last well into mid-Sept. Prior to bloom, of course, I've been enjoying fresh-cut garlic chives since June, and will
again right up until frost; their ability to attract
legions of bees and moths of all sizes and descriptions is
quite remarkable to watch.

If you should happen to amble over to western Connecticut
on Sept 21. (see post on this Forum: "Fall Swap CT Tri-State Area"), I'll be giving little seedlings away; short of that, E-mail me (via GW) and I'll send you some fresh seed!

Carl (Yankee-in-Exile)

Here are mine this year. I have two clumps in the front and another cluster you can see peeking in the background.

Ooh, they're beautiful, evonnestoryteller! Thanks -DtD

my garlic chives grew to about 2 to 3 inches tall, and now they just don't grow anymore. I'm in San Diego.