SOCIETY GARLIC
Tulbaghia violacea
If you love the taste of garlic but not the bad breath after-effects – use Society Garlic (Tulbaghia violacea) instead.
Tulbaghia violacea is a pretty little clumping perennial.
With heads of delightfully scented pink-violet trumpet blooms, and neat chive-like foliage.
Both the flowers and foliage are deliciously edible, tasting like a cross between chives and mild garlic.
So you can have the flavour, without the “garlic breath”.
Hence the common name of Society Garlic – because you can eat as much as you like and still join polite society.
Use the leaves fresh chopped into salads or toss in the plucked flowers for a pretty and tasty salad addition.
When crushed, the chive-like foliage emits an onion aroma, but it is only evident to human noses once it is crushed or cut.
Unlike the flowers which have a very sweet scent reminiscent of Hyacinths that delights you as you wander by.
But pesky sucking insects such as Aphids and Thrips as well as Mosquitoes, seem to have sensitive sniffers.
So tend to steer away from Tulbaghia violacea.
As do rabbits and deer – apparently garlic flavour is not part of their menu.
While our friends the pollinating insects simply cannot resist the sweetly scented trumpet blooms that continue popping through summer and autumn.
So, no wonder it has been, and remains today, a very popular companion plant in veggie, flower, fruit and rose gardens.
And has long been traditionally used to rub on the skin of humans and animals, to deter mosquitoes, fleas, mites and ticks.
It is also wonderful planted as an edge to a flower or rose border, where it helps to prevent the birds from scratching all your mulch out onto the path.
Mass plant it under roses; ring it around fruit trees; or make veggie patch borders as a pretty and useful health companion.
Tulbaghia violacea is a tough, very easy to grow, low maintenance little perennial clump.
It is super-hardy and long-lived.
And always looks neat
It remains evergreen in subtropical and temperate districts, though may retreat underground in areas with severe frosts. But do not be alarmed – it will be happily back next spring.
It is water-wise, heat and drought resistant.
Plus tolerates summer humidity well.
Plant in a sunny position, where the soil is well drained, and do not over-water or over-feed once it is established.
It will also grow creditably in some shade, but will not flower as well (and the flowers are so pretty – you would hate not to have them).
Tulbaghia violaces also makes a pretty, and super hardy, container plant.
Bulk Discount
If you buy 3-6 plants there will be a $0.50 discount per plant"
If you buy 7+ plants there will be a $1.00 discount per plant
Plants on Special are excluded
