Tulbaghia violacea - Society Garlic

Tulbaghia violacea will grow nicely in sun or shade with good soils or bad. About the only place in the garden to avoid planting your Society Garlic is where the soil is soggy. Tulbaghia violacea has grasslike foliage that grows to around a foot tall and pink flowers that grow to around 2 feet tall. Tulbaghia violacea blooms most of the year when it is cold and will take a summer break if it does not recieve any water. Tulbaghia violacea is extremely drought tolerant to the point where I took up a bed of plants and stored them in a heap on the drive for 4 months before finding a planting spot of them . . . and they survived. The foliage is bursting with the fragrance of garlic. Tulbaghia violacea will survive the dogs and kids though they too will smell like garlic. I prefer to remove the flower stalks as they begin to look like so much straw, this can be a bit time consuming, particularly in a larger planting. Tulbaghia violacea is a nice addition to the Butterfly Garden because of its long bloom time and its attraction to the Swallowtail Butterflies. The butterfly feeding on this Society Garlic is a Western Tiger Swallowtail. Tulbaghia violacea is winter hardy to 0°F but the foliage will be damaged if temperatures dip much below the mid-20° range F.

More bulbs for a California Garden

Other plants in the Tulbaghia featured on this site:
Tulbaghia fragrans * Sweet Garlic
Tulbaghia violacea Savannah Lightning * White Society Garlic