Seedman's Society Garlic Seeds

Society Garlic Seeds

Society garlic is a popular container plant. Most gardeners leave it out on the patio or porch all summer, bringing it indoors for the winter. Outdoors, grow in a sunny border.
This is a perennial that will spread slowly by its rhizomes, but will not become aggressive. Society garlic can be used in the front of a herbaceous border, and South African gardeners often use it as a bedding plant along with annual flowers. Society garlic is used in rock gardens, too.
Flowers are most fragrant at night.

The bulbs and leaves are edible and can be used like garlic and garlic chives. It is reported that society garlic, planted in a row or border, will deter moles.

The name, "society garlic" comes from the assumption that, although it tastes like garlic, you don't get bad breath from eating it.

Useful gardening information

In the herb garden, society garlic looks attractive with plants of contrasting foliage and habit. Any of the creeping or shrubby thymes (Thymus spp.) would complement it, as would the fine gray foliage and tiny yellow flowers of lavender cotton (Santolina chamaecyparissus). One of the purple-leaved basils or dark-green-leaved prostrate rosemary would form contrasts of another sort.

Society garlic is hardy only to Zone 9. Southern gardeners can grow it year-round outdoors; it tolerates summer heat well and blooms for months. The plants do best in full sun and in light, sandy soil. Though the foliage will be damaged by temperatures below 25 degrees, it grows back rapidly. Set the individual bulbs 8 to 12 inches apart, just below the surface of the soil. The plants fill in quickly under favorable conditions, but they usually are not considered invasive. When they become crowded, dig them up and reset them. A slower method of propagation is to grow them from seed.

Northern gardeners will need to use another strategy to grow this plant. Potted clumps can be moved outdoors in summer and brought inside when cold weather returns. Alternatively, the plants can be transplanted into the ground for the summer and repotted in the fall.

Links to useful information on the web:

Cooking with Society Garlic

3499 Society Garlic ( Tulbaghia violacea )

The name, "society garlic" comes from the assumption that, although it tastes like garlic, you don't get bad breath from eating it.
A clump-forming herbaceous perennial with narrow, grayish green leaves and large clusters of lavender or lilac flowers. The plant looks like an especially showy garlic or garlic chives plant.
Society garlic has just 4-9 grasslike leaves, each about a foot long and a half-inch wide. The leaves grow straight up out of a swollen underground rhizome that looks like a corm or bulb. A single 2 foot flowering stalk grows up from the center of the rosette of leaves. Atop the scape sits a large umbel of sweet-scented lilac-pink flowers.
The flowers are tubular, expanding to six pointed stars at their ends. They are a little less than an inch long and wide, and there are 8-20 of the dainty little flowers in each umbel. The blossoms are produced sporadically from early summer until late autumn.
The leaves and rhizomes of society garlic smell like garlic, but the flowers are sweet, smelling like hyacinths, and some people say they are too sweet!
Society garlic is a popular container plant. Most gardeners leave it out on the patio or porch all summer, bringing it indoors for the winter. Outdoors, grow in a sunny border. This is a perennial that will spread slowly by its rhizomes, but will not become aggressive. Society garlic can be used in the front of a herbaceous border, and South African gardeners often use it as a bedding plant along with annual flowers.
Society garlic is used in rock gardens, too. Flowers are most fragrant at night. The bulbs and leaves are edible and can be used like garlic and garlic chives. It is reported that society garlic, planted in a row or border, will deter moles.
Society garlic does best in full sun. Plants will grow well in shade, but may not flower much. Indoor plants should be kept in the brightest light possible. Water society garlic frequently during the growing season, less frequently during flowering, and reduce watering during the winter resting period to just enough to keep the rootball from completely drying out. At any stage, established plants can survive extended droughts if they have to.
USDA Zones 7 - 10. Society garlic tolerates moderate frosts and light freezes down to 20°F.

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