(Chives)

Most know only know chives as a chopped herb sprinkled on salads or added to cream cheese for mild onion flavor and green color, but chives are much more than that. This lovely bulbous perennial produces a bottle brush of fine, cylindrical foliage in spring and becomes topped with beautiful lavender-pink, sometimes white, clover-like flowerheads in late spring or early summer. It is a far-flung and diverse onion that’s native across much of the northern hemisphere, so it has been historically used...

(Chives)

Chives are a bulbous perennial grown primarily for their edible, pungent, dark-green foliage. As a bonus, pale purple clover-like edible flower heads bloom from spring to summer. Profusion chives bear an abundance of sterile flowers which last longer than those of other forms.

Plant the bulbs in fertile, well drained soil at a depth two to three times their width. Once established, chives tolerate some drought. Lift and divide the clumps only when they become crowded. The leaves can be chopped...

(Sand Leek)

A variable plant that can be either a beautiful ornamental or a vicious weed, this hardy bulbous perennial comes from Europe, Iran, and the Caucasus.

Growing from a small, ovoid, tawny-coated bulb, this sometimes ornamental onion has stubby grass-like leaves that clasp the base of the solitary, short to tall flowering stem. A compact, spherical cluster of purple or lilac flowers crowns the stem in late spring and early summer, attracting bees and butterflies. In some forms of this onion, small...

(Blue Siberian Onion)

Named for its spiraling blue-gray leaves, this North Asian native is also noted for its small dense umbels of cup-shaped lilac-pink flowers, which bloom from mid to late summer. The finger-length, flattened, strap-shaped leaves appear in spring and remain attractive all season. They emit an onion scent when crushed. The leaves and flower stems grow from narrow bulbs clustered on a shallow rhizome.

Blue Siberian onion prefers sun and well-drained soil and tolerates drought once established. Lift...

(Siberian Onion)

One of the few ornamental onions to bloom in late summer, this native of Europe and Central Asia bears small dense umbels of cup-shaped lilac-pink flowers on compact stems. The grassy, pungently scented leaves appear in spring and remain green all season. The leaves and flower stems grow from narrow bulbs clustered on a shallow rhizome.

Siberian onion prefers sun and well-drained soil and tolerates drought once established. Lift and divide the clumps only when they become crowded. Grow this diminutive...

(Chinese Chives)

There are lots of reasons to love and hate garlic chives, also called Chinese chives. On the upside, they’re easy to grow, attractive and delicious to eat. The downside is they're impossibly invasive if one doesn't remove their flower heads before they set and drop seed. Each seedhead produces copious amounts of viable, black, wedge-shaped seeds that germinate fast. You’ll be weeding baby garlic chives out of every garden nook and cranny. The plants originate from Southwest China but have become...

(Love-Lies-Bleeding)

Though grown in American gardens primarily for its curious tail-like clusters of colorful flowers, this large annual has long been a staple grain in the northern Andes, where it originated. Once more popular than corn, amaranth grain and greens fed the Incas for thousands of years, and are still a vital crop for peoples of the Andes. Two other species of amaranth are important grain (and ornamental) plants: Amaranthus cruentus and Amaranthus hypochondriacus.

This fast-growing,...

(Mexican Grain Amaranthus, Prince's Feather, Purple Amaranthus)

Nothing beats this tough, heat-loving annual for big, bold summer bedding displays. This Central American native has been grown since ancient times for its grain and greens, as have two other amaranths: Amaranthus hypochondriacus and A. caudatus. Purple amaranth was central to the Aztec culture, playing an important role in many of its religious rituals. Most contemporary gardeners cultivate it purely for its showy flower spikes, though it is increasingly grown...

(Prince's Feather, Prince-of-Wales-Feather)

This large, colorful annual is probably a naturally occurring hybrid originating in Central Amercica. It has been grown since ancient times for its grain and greens, as have two other amaranths: Amaranthus cruentus and A. caudatus. This amaranth was widely cultivated and revered by the Aztecs, playing a central role in their diet and in many of their religious rituals. Most contemporary gardeners cultivate it purely for its showy flower spikes, although it is increasingly...

Showy clusters of crimson, gold-suffused leaves crown the tall stems of this cultivar of Joseph's coat. A large annual grown in flower gardens for its colorful plumage, Joseph's coat originated in tropical Asia, where it is widely cultivated as a leaf vegetable.

This fast-growing, heat-loving plant bears large, elliptic or oval leaves on erect stems. The brilliant orange-red new leaves are brushed and blotched with golden yellow. The leaves age to rich green with deep maroon markings. Insignificant...