I was referring to the latter, and that just might be the problem as you pointed out.. I don't cut it all the way back, but maybe leave like an inch and a half left.. Was thinking that that would be enough to ensure future growth, but I could have been wrong.. Clearly, I'm doing something incorrectly....

So, when I cut it back, how much should I leave in terms of length and how long will it produce? Wondering if it normally produces all summer..

Thank for your help!

You don't need to leave any length. The individual leaves do not regrow. What you need to do is to cut just a proportion of the leaves but cut right to the base. It should produce all summer and year after year.

Ok, so now it appears I'm getting differing views on this.. All I know is that I've been cutting my plants way back, sometimes close to the base, and after I do that each successive cut yields less than the previous one... Could be something else going on that I'm doing wrong.. As I alluded to in the beginning, my knowledge of growing chives is quite basic at this point (hence the "basic" question)........but I had just become tired of the same outcome year after year.... That's why I'm here! :)

Keep the info coming... I do appreciate it!

No, callirhoe and I are saying the same thing. Don't cut all the leaves back. Cut a proportion back but cut them right down. I rarely need to cut more than three or four complete leaves at any one time. Chives are actually really easy as long as they have sufficient moisture, light and space. Are these in a container? Or in the ground? And I'm sure you are aware they disappear in the winter Then regrow in the spring?

I keep mine growing year round. Outside after last frost and inside over the winter. Keep watered and cut ONLY what you want to use. If it is one leaf or four or ten. Cut those to the base. Leave the rest. If leaves turn brown and shrivel, I just pull those off. My plant is at least 7 or 8 years old. It flowers from time to time and those are good also.

Give a dose of fertilizer maybe once a year if you remember.

Yes, mine go dormant because they're out in the garden. Bringing them inside would be a different scenario.

After reading several of the posts here, I believe I see some things (but
probably not all) that I've been doing wrong..

Just for context, what I usually use chives for is making compound butter,
along with garlic and a bit of salt.. It is wonderful on a toasted baguette or
in mashed potatoes...:) To make this, it takes lots of chives, so in the past
I'd just whack the entire set of leaves back evenly across the top,
leaving maybe an inch thinking this would be ok.. Sounds like I might need
to get several plants to get what I need for the butter if I only use a portion
of the total leaf growth per plant..

To answer a couple of your questions.........my plants are in pots.. The
weather here is definitely too cold to let them winter over outside.. In fact,
everything dies out here where I live in the winter..........even a Rosemary
plant that did winter over one year, but not the following.. It's all a
process and a learning curve......:)

I believe I get what you are saying now about only using a proportion of
the plant at a time.. Just to make sure though, if anyone has a link that
explains all of this (maybe with illustrations) that would be very
helpful..

Thanks for all your input on this!!

I don't have a link, maybe look at Pinterest, Plant several pots or I would just go for one big one. Whatever size you have been cutting back all the way, I would triple or more. Maybe some in the ground outside and some in pots for all year. Plant WAY more than you think you need. They are really very easy to grow and I can kill ANYTHING. I think you just need more, so you are not cutting all of one plant at a time. By the way, post recipe for the butter.

Just to be clear, chives are bone hardy, much tougher than Rosemary. They will survive hardy winters. But they do it by going dormant.

I have had my chives for 10+ years now in So. Maine. I don't cut mine back at all. I cut what I need and leave the rest. I have also divided them about twice and given some to my mom and brothers for their gardens. They are right outside my kitchen door in the ground ready when I need them. I don't give them any special treatment. Just full sun and watering twice a week. Although with all this rain we have had lately, I haven't had to water much of anything! They pretty much take care of themselves. Easy to grow, no fuss plant.

Are you talking onion chives (purple flower), or garlic chives (larger white flower)? Both are hardy in open ground. Both go dormant in winter and come up from seed that dropped the fall before and the original clump comes up from the bulb.

Garlic chives will be invasive if you let the white flowers go to seed and don't deadhead them. Use the white flowers you trim off for salad or cooking.

Onion chives have a smaller purple flower and are a little less invasive. But again the flowers also are good for eating in salad or cooking.

When I use them I go out and cut down no more than 2/3 from the top. Every 3 to 4 years I uproot the entire plant, separate it and replant the bulbs before they grow to much in the spring. Or do nothing. They will survive no matter what you do or don't do.

If you can only grow in containers that is no issue. Use a well draining soil, but make sure that it is a large container. And space out the bulbs, they will fill in.

If you start from seed just sprinkle seed on top of the soil and water well, they will sprout and the rest will happen naturally.

Keep them in 2 separate pots as they are different plants. Garlic chives have strappy flatter leaves while the onion chives are smaller around and more rounded not flat.

They are very easy and taste great! Rosie