Tuesday, August 17, 2004

the other chives

In Spring, the lowly, lovely chive puts out its purple thistle-like flower at just the right time, as spring bulbs are fading (or gone) and before many of the summer perennials have started blooming.

Its of the allium family (same as garlic, onions, and the big ornamental purple globes), and according to organic gardeners, something of an aphid retardant.

In addition to liking chives as a food source, I really appreciate its architectural place in the garden, providing small, grass clumps, a textural contrast to the broader leafed mounds around it. Chives are a punctuation mark, shooting up, cutting space like stakes.

And now its time for the garlic chive to shine. It's been sitting quietly all year, unobserved or noticed. This chive has white flower buds that turn into furry globes similar to the dandelion seedhead.

My garlic chives have the white buds right now, little white slashes on the ends of the stalk.

No comments: