Society garlic is a tough, pretty perennial with edible, mild garlic-flavoured leaves and starry lilac flowers. Hardy, drought-tolerant and long-flowering, it makes a neat, useful edging plant for a raised bed.
Quick facts
- Position: full sun to part shade
- Spacing: 20–30 cm clumps
- Tub depth: our 23 cm depth
- Time to harvest: from established clumps
When to plant: Plant divisions in spring or autumn. It's a hardy perennial that forms clumps and flowers for much of the warmer year. Our free planting calendar shows the right months for your postcode.
Growing it in a raised bed: Plant into any reasonable, free-draining mix. It's remarkably tough and drought-hardy once established, and clumps can be divided every few years.
How to use it: The leaves and flowers have a mild garlic-chive flavour, good in salads and stir-fries, and the plant is said to help deter some pests. The lilac flowers draw in bees and butterflies.
Common pests: keep an eye out for aphids, though flowers are seldom much bothered. See our safe pest guide.
Common problems: the main one to watch is rust, usually in damp, crowded conditions. Good airflow prevents most.
Where to plant it: A hardy, low-fuss edging plant; its scent is said to deter some garden pests. See our companion planting guide.
More growing guides: lavender, anise hyssop and bee balm.
Plan your patch: our free planting calendar shows what to plant now where you live. Ready to grow? Browse our raised garden beds or build your own with the garden bed builder.
Image: Forest and Kim Starr, CC BY 3.0 us, via Wikimedia Commons.
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