Hi all: chives can be very invasive. 5 yrs ago when we moved into our new home they had planted chives on one end of the flower garden. Dual purpose gardening I guessed. Well the following summer I had chive plants coming up everywhere. I didn't know that they reseeded themselves like they do. I am still pulling them out of my flower bed. As they had grown into the sedum. Making it harder to pull them out, or dig out without damaging them. I do love them in the spot I now have for them. I am also picking the flowers off as soon as I see the seeds starting to form. I know that some other herbs can be invasive also. Like mint. So just plant them in a spot where they can take over and live happily.
Calling mint "invasive" is like calling Tom Selleck "pleasant looking." A massive understatement! I keep mint in pots so it won't take over. Chives we don't have a problem with--probably the heat. We get chives in the spring, they die back, and then reappear in the fall.
chives can be a serious weed here. So I pick off as many of the spent flowers as I can and toss them in the grass and just mow them up when I am doing the lawn. At tomes I even dig the whole plant or weed eat it to keep it under control.
I've noticed that this year I have a few wild chives popping up in the garden. I didn't plant them so I presume the birds did. I keep my mint in pots to as otherwse it would take over the garden.
Oh yes...we have chives running amok here too! I now hack them right back as soon as they are done blooming.
I live in the desert. It took me two years to get chives established that I planted from seed. They are just not invasive here.
Chives Pricklypear: Glad to hear you finally got them to grow for you. Here in Wis. they can be quite the problem if you don't keep them in bounds. My Mom lived in Pierce-Sunsites, Az a few years ago. She never had a veggie garden, but boy did she have some fantastic roses. The roses loved the dry hot weather. :-D
Not all things grow well in the shade. While at Home Depot one year we were getting into the car when I spotted a '6 pack' of chives in the parking lot median strip. The sun had taken its toll as most were reduced to a crisp, however, a couple looked salvageable so home they came. I planted them in with some flowers and labeled them 'parking lot chives.' The following year and for a couple years after that they supplemented various dishes requiring chives. They never flowered and one year they disappeared. Invasive they were not. :-( Jerry
aaaah! So sorry to hear that. You are a good soul for trying to give them a fighting chance. I to hate to see things struggling to grow. I bet if you bought some plants or planted some chive seeds they would grow great. Just not in the shade. You could try a pot so you can move them around into the sunshine. :-D Try, try again.
chive weed Lots of weed chives around my garden. I let the ones under my porch grow, and fight with the lemon balm (mint family), weed whack them and they keep the other weeds away. The chive flowers are edible and have a fairly strong chive flavor, so great to add to salads or garnishes along with preventing weed spread. So I keep a few flower buds for blooming, and for the rest, pull out the whole stalk down to the bulb, as it is thick and tough, and need to throw away anyways when snipping some chives for cooking. Also, the chive plant will die back after it blooms, so removing the flowers will keep chive long into the fall, early winter around here.
