HOURS:
Mon to Fri 8am - 6pm
Fri & Sat 8am - 8pm
Sun 8am - 7pm
LOCATION:
8546 Sun Valley Road
Anytown, USA  12345
CONTACT:
phone: 261.788.5500
fax: 261.787.0463
e-mail: info@successgc.com
UP AND COMING
Deer-Resistant Gardening
Master Gardener Dorothy Dupage shares her experiences creating a truly deer-resistant garden in this month's popular 'Garden Talk' installment...
VIEW

Plant Finder

herb

White Sweet Garlic

Tulbaghia simmleri 'Alba'

Add To My Wish List

White Sweet Garlic (Tulbaghia simmleri 'Alba') at A Very Successful Garden Center

White Sweet Garlic flowers

White Sweet Garlic flowers

(Photo courtesy of NetPS Plant Finder)

White Sweet Garlic (Tulbaghia simmleri 'Alba') at A Very Successful Garden Center

White Sweet Garlic in bloom

White Sweet Garlic in bloom

(Photo courtesy of NetPS Plant Finder)

Height:  20 inches

Spread:  18 inches

Sunlight:  full sun  partial shade 

Hardiness Zone:  7b

Other Names:  Fragrant Tulbaghia

Description:

A fast growing, clumping plant with narrow, strap like leaves that smell strongly of garlic when bruised; sweet smelling white flowers appear all season; ideal massed in the garden, or in containers

Edible Qualities

White Sweet Garlic is a perennial herb that is commonly grown for its edible qualities, although it does have ornamental merits as well. The entire above-ground parts of the plant are edible, and are usually harvested from early summer to early fall. The edible parts have a mild taste and a distinctive fragrance.

The plant is most often used in the following ways:

  • Fresh Eating
  • Cooking

Features & Attributes

White Sweet Garlic features showy spikes of fragrant white star-shaped flowers rising above the foliage from late winter to early fall, which emerge from distinctive creamy white flower buds. The flowers are excellent for cutting. Its attractive fragrant grassy leaves remain green in color throughout the season.

This is an herbaceous perennial herb with a mounded form. Its medium texture blends into the garden, but can always be balanced by a couple of finer or coarser plants for an effective composition. This is a relatively low maintenance plant, and should be cut back in late fall in preparation for winter. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Aside from its primary use as an edible, White Sweet Garlic is sutiable for the following landscape applications;

  • Mass Planting
  • General Garden Use
  • Herb Gardens
  • Container Planting

Planting & Growing

White Sweet Garlic will grow to be about 16 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 18 inches. It grows at a fast rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 10 years. As an herbaceous perennial, this plant will usually die back to the crown each winter, and will regrow from the base each spring. Be careful not to disturb the crown in late winter when it may not be readily seen!

This plant is quite ornamental as well as edible, and is as much at home in a landscape or flower garden as it is in a designated herb garden. It does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in rich soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America. It can be propagated by division; however, as a cultivated variety, be aware that it may be subject to certain restrictions or prohibitions on propagation.

White Sweet Garlic is a good choice for the edible garden, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. It can be used either as 'filler' or as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination, depending on the height and form of the other plants used in the container planting. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.

 
 
Hardiness Zone Plant Height Minimum Sunlight
Characteristics
Massing  Garden  Herb  Container 
Applications
Flowers  Foliage Color 
Ornamental Features