One of the best ornamental alliums for a sunny, hot garden! Although this indestructible flowering wonder is difficult to classify taxonomically and should nowadays be attributed to the European mountain garlic (Allium lusitanicum), it captivates gardeners with its uncompromising simplicity and beauty.
Mountain chives combine so many desirable gardening qualities that it’s hard to believe: They feature fresh, green, glossy foliage that looks great throughout nearly the entire growing season. They thrive in hot, full-sun garden locations and never need to be fertilized or watered. It can withstand not only extreme heat but also the coldest winter temperatures. It doesn’t go to seed or produce runners—the clumps simply become more lush from year to year and produce more and more flowers.
I like to combine mountain chives in the foreground of the bed with low-growing groundcovers such as cushion thyme or red-leaved spiny-headed acaena (Acaena inermis ‘Purpurea’), but it’s also ideal for low-growing mixed plantings alongside sea thrift (Armeria), hardy petunias (Ruellia), stonecrops (Sedum), bearded irises, and suitable small gravel-garden grasses.
