Garlic Chives (Allium tuberosum) are the hot hangout in my garden now for a number of bees, butterflies, and more. One clump showed up next to the driveway four years ago. Last fall, Jessie dug up some seedlings and made a little hedge of five plants. The original plant is thirty-eight inches tall. Each individual flower is about a half inch across, which makes it handy to tell the size of the insects who visit it. The narrow, long leaves have a mild flavor of onions and garlic, perfect snipped on salads or baked potatoes.

Alas, Garlic Chives come from China and the Himalayas, so I don’t plant to grow more than five or seven plants. Eventually they will go to make way for natives. Bur for now, they provide a source of nectar and flowers during a lull in native blooms.

Pollinators Who Visit Garlic Chives

Common Buckeye

Ailanthus Webworm Moth

Pearl Moth

Southern Spragueia Moth

Carpenter Bee and Common Eastern Bumble Bee

Honey Bee and Common Eastern Bumble Bees

Oblique Streaktail

Fraternal Potter Wasp

Common Eastern Bumble Bee and Elephant Mosquito

Elephant mosquitoes don’t bite and don’t spread disease. Instead, they drink nectar, fruit juices, and other sweet fluids. They are sometimes released to control the kinds of mosquitoes who spread disease.