Herb Seeds

A. tuberosum. This flat-leaf variety of Garlic Chives seeds has a strong garlic flavour and aroma. The white flowers and stalks are used (only a small amount is needed), to add the pungent taste of garlic to salads, vegetables, dumplings, and stir-fries. Popular in Asian cuisine, garlic chives are also known as ku chai in Chinese. While the leaves and flower stems are delicious and useful in the kitchen garlic chives are also very attractive flowering plants. Use this herb as companion plants to repel aphids from flowers or vegetables prone to attack.

Sow chive seeds at any time of year. Hardy, perennial, and easy to grow, the chopped stems and pink flowers add a fresh, mild green onion flavour to sandwiches, salads and baked potatoes. Clumps can be divided in spring or fall. If grown in containers, divide frequently enough to provide for constant lateral growth. Chives are surprisingly hardy and can be harvested all winter if given some protection from extreme cold. They are also quite drought tolerant, so they’re good candidates for xeriscaping. The edible flowers are highly attractive to bumblebees, hoverflies, and other beneficial garden insects.

Nepeta cataria. Not just for cats! Tall pink and white flower spikes are great in fresh and dried arrangements. Use the leaves in salads, sauces, teas, and soups – and of course fresh or dried for the cats! Catnip seeds are a good choice for a bee attractor that works well in containers on cat-free balconies. Protect seedlings from cats.

Catnip (and a few of its close relatives) contain the compound nepetalactone, which is extremely attractive to domestic and wild cats. It has the same effect on leopards, lynxes, and tigers as it does on house cats. Roughly 33% of all cats do not respond to catnip, and the response is believed to be hereditary.