Chives is really a mild, bulbless onion, of which we use the flat, grass-like but hollow leaves. The "bulb" of chives is little more than the swollen base of the stem, and far smaller than the typical onion, to which it is closely related. It is from these small "bulbs" that chives is started, for it cannot be grown from seed since this is seldom produced. The dealers, however, sell "sets" which are really young bulbs and can be planted like onion sets.

The plant is normally 6-8 inches high, with rather showy, pinkish-lavender, ball-like flower clusters, which, however, are often lacking if the leaves are constantly cut. The plant tends to make dense mats or sods if left alone too long, and these should be dug up, separated into smaller clumps, and replanted in the late fall or early spring.

Scarcely any salad can or should be made without chives. Fresh leaves can be cut at any time and chopped into small bits for flavoring not only salads, omelettes, cheese, soups, and potatoes, and one enthusiast wrote that a "chef who makes a potato salad without chives has no soul." In addition to all of these, chives is widely used to flavor fish, spaghetti, and various vegetables. For related plants, see in this chapter, garlic, leek, rocambole, and shallot.

The leaves of chives are useless when dried and, because of this, some herb gardeners pot up one or two clumps, bring them into the kitchen window, and harvest at least some fresh leaves all winter.

Costmary (Chrysanthemum balsamita) Aster Family (Compositae)

An Asiatic perennial grown for centuries in Europe but not as well known as it should be in the United States. Like many of its relatives among the garden chrysanthemums, costmary has aromatic leaves-hence its name balsamita. Actually the odor is a compound of balsam, mint, lemon, and other unidentifiable odors, and these are strong enough so that some people call it "mint geranium," although it has nothing to do with either. It is also quite incorrectly called "lavender," but it has even less to do with that plant.

The plant is a little weedy and, if left alone, will reach a height of 2-3 feet and become quite bushy. The leaves are toothed or even frilled on the margin, and it is only grown for these, since the August-blooming white and yellow, daisy- like heads are of no use to the herb gardener. It is easily increased by division of the root. The leaves can be stored by cleaning and drying.