Diane’s seeding garlic is probably what local grocery stores sell as elephant garlic, and most references say it is a form of leek (Allium porrum). In other words, strictly speaking it is not a garlic. Or just as likely it might be a survivor of an old planting of culinary leeks. Culinary leeks and elephant garlic are both very ornamental in the garden. Elephant garlic gets to be over six feet high and the developing inflorescence is contained in a spathe with the shape of a Russian cathedral onion dome. It’s an exciting sight in the late spring garden. Culinary leeks are worth growing for their flowers, too: although they tend to be a dirty gray-white, some have clearer, cleaner colors and are a ornamental as any of the Allium sold as ornamental onions. The question of what garlic itself is is a puzzle. Although it is given a botanical name (Allium sativum – that literally means cultivated garlic or cultivated onion) there is no naturally occurring sexually reproducing population which corresponds to what we know as garlic. It appears to exist only in cultivation. Cultivated garlic does not produce viable seeds as far as I know (and that is why Jan wrote “Seed bearing garlic is new for me, and I think it is quite of an interest for every Allium fan” ) and that makes it hard to explain the diversity of cultivars now grown. Have they arisen by somatic mutation of one original plant? The fact that garlics divide into two general groups, the hard neck or rocambolle types and the soft neck types, only complicates the picture and suggests that garlic originated at least twice – whatever its source. The hard neck/rocambolle types are the ones which are typically grown in harsh climates and are autumn planted. In mild climates, the soft neck sorts are also autumn planted, but in harsh climates some do not perform well when autumn planted and so they are sometimes planted in the spring. As Jan points out, spring planted soft neck garlics do not produce large bulbs – one reason many gardeners in cold climate areas prefer the hard neck/rocombolle types. In our local grocery stores, the garlics usually sold are soft neck types. These are the ones which are seen braided into decorative swags. Hard neck garlics on the other hand seem only to be grown in home gardens locally. Hard neck garlics are worth growing in the ornamental garden for their very decorative, sinuously coiled scapes (which give them the name ophioscordum, from the words for snake and garlic in Greek). These garlic scapes are delicious chopped up and sautéed in olive oil. Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone 7, where various unidentified clumping Allium are blooming prettily. My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/