Re: Society Garlic
- Subject: Re: Society Garlic
- From: J* M*
- Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 13:07:07 -0800
Joe Seals wrote:
> I've never actually heard the name "Society Garlic"
> used by folks I know but I'm inclined to call it "that
> stinky plant that's overused in public places". I
> can't imagine anyone actually wanting to plant
> something that bears such a heavy fragrance that's not
> a desirable one (unless, of course, you're on your way
> to an Italian restaurant).
I love to eat the blossoms of Tulbaghia violacea. I find they combine the
tastes of sweet (they are full of nectar), peppery spice, and mild garlic.
They are delicious in salads!
The plain green-leafed form makes a useful, easily-maintained groundcover.
There is also a white-flowered form called 'Pearl'. As long as the foliage
is cut back once a year and divided and reset every third or fourth year, I
find the less vigorous variegated-leaf form 'Silver Lace' (with white edges
to the leaves) to be a very good landscape subject--very useful in blue and
violet landscape schemes with salvias, lavenders, rosemarys, and other
plants from Mediterranean-type climates. I don't think I have ever seen
'Variegata', which has a white stripe down the middle of the leaf. Few
other plants bloom for such a long season, and where the foliage is properly
treated, it is handsome even when out of bloom. I think that too often we
tend to disdain very good plants that are easily grown and hence widely used
(and too often misused), when, if featured creatively, they are gems.
Sorry, Tim and Joe, but people I know all call it "society garlic." We must
move in different circles. ;-)
I also like to use both the lavender- and white-flowered forms of Tulbaghia
simmleri (formerly T. fragrans), which (if not frosted) bloom all winter
long as well as through spring and part of the summer. Its foliage is
grayer and broader, the whole plant is a little larger in scale than T.
violacea, and it lacks the garlic odor. The blossoms are have a mild, sweet
fragrance, and the clusters last for a week or more as cut flowers. This
species thrives with less frequent division, and even when we get a light
frost it comes back into bloom within a couple of weeks.
All in all, I consider these Tulbaghias to be easily grown garden mainstays.
Does anyone on the list grow any of the other South African species in this
genus? I have seen T. cominsii, T. leucantha. T. natalensis (reputedly
hardy), and T. pallida on seed lists, and there several other species
pictured at at:
http://theafricangarden.netfirms.com/page13.html
and at:
http://www.crocosmia.8m.com/page2.html
(Be patient; the pictures take some time to download).
Most look like small collectors items, but there are many selected forms and
hybrids of T. violacea. It looks like some of these might be valuable
landscape items.
John MacGregor
South Pasadena, CA 91030
USDA zone 9 Sunset zones 21/23
