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zzackey

My chives looked weird

zzackey
10 years ago

My chives had some very wide fat blades on several of them. I yanked them out thinking a weed had gotten into them. But they smelled like chives. Is this normal?

Comments (15)

  • theforgottenone1013 (SE MI zone 5b/6a)
    10 years ago

    Maybe the ones with flat leaves were garlic chives.

    Rodney

  • balloonflower
    10 years ago

    How old are they? It is possible you have garlic chives, not onion. Immature garlic chives look the same as onion. If they flowered, you'd definitely notice the difference.

  • seysonn
    10 years ago

    Another possibility is that you,ve got leeks. They are also a kind of ONION chives when young and taste like onions. I prefer them over garlic chives.

    Edited: Leeks.

    This post was edited by seysonn on Fri, Sep 6, 13 at 21:37

  • zzackey
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    The plant is about 3 years old. I just put it in the ground this Spring. It had a purple flower on it. I wish It was Leeks!

  • balloonflower
    10 years ago

    Then you don't have onion chives. I suppose it is possible that you have a type of grass weed that just picked up the scent from your onion chives. I have some sort that's growing in mine, but haven't smelled it.

    Edit--Oops! I meant to say that you don't have garlic chives if they're three years old, and put up the pink/purple blossom that onion chives do.

    This post was edited by balloonflower on Mon, Sep 9, 13 at 14:05

  • zzackey
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    What color is onion chives flowers? I thought about the scent thing. Anyway, it's yanked out now.

  • seysonn
    10 years ago

    I called LEEK onion chives.
    They have globe shaped pinkish flower cluster, similar to onions. But garlic chive have individual flower.
    But leeks usually flower the second year.

    Can you post a picture ?

  • zzackey
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Oh. This was like a small ball of flowers. I cut it off months ago.

  • seysonn
    10 years ago

    Oh. This was like a small ball of flowers. I cut it off months ago.
    ***********************

    that is it > small ball like flower clusters, pinkish color ..LEEKS.
    Some of mine are already have flowers.

    Garlic chives have white flowers and they DO NOT FORM A GLOBE.

    The distinctive difference is in taste. Leeks have onion taste, garlic chives, well garlic.
    There is another leek called "Persian Leek(Tare', in Persian)" . They are much similar in size and shape to garlic chives. But they will not grow as thick and as wide as ordinary leek. They have the same kind of flowers as leeks.

    This post was edited by seysonn on Sun, Sep 8, 13 at 3:03

  • fatamorgana2121
    10 years ago

    Young garlic (Allium sativum) can look rather chive like if a bunch of the bulbils got planted together. I've had this happen. Crowding alliums can make them look more chive like.

    Got any pictures of when it was blooming?

    FataMorgana

  • zzackey
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    No pictures. It is 3 years old and I don't think it is garlic. We had some friends that grew lots of garlic, so I know the difference. I will post a picture this week.

  • florauk
    10 years ago

    Can you post a picture of the plant, even without the flowers? And maybe close ups of the 2 different kinds of leaves? And big are these flat leaves?

    A bit of nomenclature might help. Google images of Allium schoenoprasum (true chives) Allium sativum (garlic), Allium ampeloprasum (leek) and Allium tuberosum (garlic chives) and see if you can find your pant.

    A tuberosum doesn't have purple flowers btw. The others do. True chives are perennial and will flower every year. Leeks are biennial and will flower in their second year from seed. Garlic is generally harvested at the end of its first year from planting cloves but if left will be perennial via reproduction of more cloves.

  • seysonn
    10 years ago

    @ Flora,

    True chives, as you call it, has tubular leaves , like onions, Not flat like leeks. But Zackey says his chives has wide flat leaves. Only garlis, garlic chives and leeks have flat leaves. Then , of course, the is RAMP but they look more like lilies of the valley.

    Persian leeks (Allium Ampeloprasum var. Persicum.)

  • florauk
    10 years ago

    seysonn - I was responding to Zackey's statement "My chives had some very wide fat blades on several of them" ie there is an implication that only some of them have flat leaves. I thought it would be useful for the OP to ascertain what ALL the leaves were, not just the flat ones, and to distinguish the two different plants s/he appears to have. I grow chives, garlic and leeks so I am familiar with their leaves. I used the term 'true' chives because Allium schoenoprasum is the only Allium which goes by the name Chives alone and does not need an additional adjective to describe it.

  • seysonn
    10 years ago

    garlic chives

    This post was edited by seysonn on Fri, Sep 13, 13 at 17:01

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