Best Chive Varieties for Scotland

Chives are an easy herb, and the main choice is between species rather than named varieties. Ordinary chives taste of onion. Garlic chives and Siberian chives have a mild garlic flavour, and Siberian chives cope with wet soil. Two named chives, 'Silver Chimes' and 'Forescate', add a different look.

What Scotland means for the choice

Chives are hardy herbaceous perennials that grow well in sun or partial shade, in the ground or in containers, which suits most Scottish gardens. All the forms are rated H5The RHS's H1a–H7 scale for how much cold a plant can survive outdoors, H1a being tender indoor-only and H7 hardy anywhere in the UK. Full definition → or H6, hardy to between -20 and -10°C. Siberian chives, which are described as suited to wet soils, are the one to try in a damp corner of a wet climate. Garlic chives want full sun in a sheltered south- or west-facing spot. The chives growing guide covers sowing, cutting and dividingPropagating a clump-forming perennial by digging it up and splitting it into several smaller pieces, each with roots and shoots attached. Full definition →.

None of them holds the RHS Award of Garden Merit.

Ordinary chives and 'Silver Chimes'

Ordinary chives form clumps of mild, onion-flavoured leaves, and the flowers are edible too, with a white-flowered form, f. albiflorum, rated H6. 'Silver Chimes' is the named variety: a compact, clump-forming chive about 25cm tall, with hollow, onion-scented leaves and silvery-white, edible flowers in late summer. 'Forescate' grows larger than ordinary chives and has pink flowers, if you want a bigger clump.

Garlic chives and Siberian chives

Garlic chives, also called Chinese chives, are vigorous plants to 50cm with flat leaves and a mild garlic flavour, and fragrant white star-shaped flowers in late summer and autumn. They want full sun and a sheltered south- or west-facing spot. Siberian chives grow about 60cm tall, with broad, flat, grey-green leaves and a mild garlic flavour, and rose-pink to mauve-blue or white flowers in early or mid summer. They're suited to wet soils and like full sun. They're also sold as blue chives or flat-stalked garlic, so look for those names too.

Buying chives

Most chive seed and plants on sale are ordinary chives. A young plant in a 9cm pot is cheap, easy to find and the quickest way to start, and it can go out at any time of year, though spring is best. For 'Silver Chimes', 'Forescate', garlic chives or Siberian chives, try herb nurseries and online suppliers. In a pot, chives need a container at least 20cm wide and deep.

Whichever you choose, the outdoor harvest runs from late spring until the plants die back in autumn. A clump potted up and brought in to a sunny windowsill keeps the pickings going through winter. The flowers are good for pollinating insects, and chives self-seed readily, so snip off the spent flower stalks if you don't want seedlings.

Which one for your situation

• Everyday cooking with an onion flavour: ordinary chives.
• A mild garlic flavour: garlic chives, in a sunny, sheltered spot.
• Wet or slow-draining ground: Siberian chives.
• A compact border plant with late flowers: 'Silver Chimes'.
• A bigger clump with pink flowers: 'Forescate'.

Common questions

Sources