New plants: Chives One Series
Chives with rare flower colours have always been hard to find, but for the first time, three colours and a mixture can now be grown from seed
Most of us grow chives (Allium schoenoprasum); the invaluable snip-and-taste culinary herb that has so many uses in the kitchen and is so easy to grow in the garden.
But as well as that versatile flavour, chives bring us pale purple, honey-scented, pollinator-friendly pompom flowers, which, like the leaves, are also edible. However, most of us tend to grow the same type of chives – the wild-type species, Allium schoenoprasum – rather than venturing into cultivars.
Plants in white and a range of pink shades have been available previously, but they’ve been hard to find in nurseries, and stocks have usually been limited. Now, we can grow a range of shades from seed, bringing a new splash of bee-friendly colour to our herb gardens, potagers and containers.
Three new varieties and a blend
New this season are three seed-raised varieties of chives in distinct flower colours. All three mature a little shorter than the chives most commonly found in gardens, flowering at about 30cm (12in) in height, making them ideal for smaller spaces or container growing.
‘Pink One’ (bright pink), ‘Purple One’ (rich violet-purple) and ‘White One’ (pure white) are offered as separate colours. ‘White One’ is especially useful in potagers and ornamental herb gardens. All three are also available blended into a mixture, ‘Mixed One’.
Chives ‘Purple One’
Chives ‘Pink One’
Easy to raise from seed
One Series chives are easy to raise from seed. Sow the seed in cells, in fresh, moist seed compost, two or three seeds per cell, cover with a little compost, and keep in a bright but not sunny place at about 18-21C (65-70F). Most seeds will still germinate at lower temperatures, but more slowly.
The seeds will peep through after two or three weeks, at which point the temperature can be lowered, and the plants grown on for planting in summer.
