Allium Species, Elephant Garlic, Wild Leek, Yorktown Onion

I like to grow this plant just for its lovely flowers, because I don't want to have to water it a lot to get the big, edible cloves from ...Read Moreit. Produces a very ornamental inflorescence similar to the commercial showy allium called 'drumstick allium'.

Originating from sandy sea shores, yet succeeds well in heavy clay. Winterhardy here in zone 8. Needs to be grown in a permanent place....Read More Thrives on neglect.

The plants die down late summer and resprout late autumn or early spring. They grow to size of a leek. Large plants will throw up a flower scape with flowers and bulbils, no seeds are produced. There are large cloves underground after plant has flowered. Propagation from bulbils or cloves (and from scales which remain in the ground after the bulbs are harvested).

Very useful herb/vegetable - all parts of the plant can be eaten. Snip young leaves for salads or egg dishes, use as leek, harvest bulbils and use as garlic (bulbils will keep a few months), dig up cloves and use as garlic. Flavour is like elephant garlic. Bulbs and bulbils are hotter than leaves.

I find large clumps of this garlic (or actually leek) growing wild around many old homeplaces that were abandoned long ago. I contacted t...Read Morehe garlic expert Bob at gourmetgarlicgardens.com and he told me what it was and that if watered, it would really form the large cloves familiar in the supermarket, but I've never seen these plants actually do so, but most I've seen got no care at all and survived all droughts, so maybe with some care, they will form the cloves. Bob said the plant was introduced by German settlers in Texas 150 years ago.

just a side note .... critters also like this garlic. Ground squirrils, voles, and gophers. Lost a clump of EG again this year. Thank...Read More goodness I have it planted elsewhere.

A number of elephant garlic bulbswere planted in the garden a number of years ago and now it's growing in every bed, even the shady beds...Read More. It's growing everywhere. From when I see a little stalk, I leave it until the next year and then harvest the mild-tasting cloves. It's bothered by few pests, but quickly multiplies.

I love Elephant garlic, it is very easy to grow and very reliable, the cloves are large and very mild. I normally grow enough to keep us ...Read Moreand our friends supplied for the year. Also the cloves can be frozen whole on a tray, and after they are frozen they can be bagged and they won't stick together, giving you access to whichever ammount of garlic you might need any time of year.

Elephant garlic is very mild, its cloves are much bigger than regular garlic. It is really more closely related to leeks than true garli...Read Morec. It can be used as a substitute for either in cooking.