Chives vs Beaked Sedge - TreeTime.ca

Chives vs Beaked Sedge

Allium schoenoprasum

Carex utriculata

NOT AVAILABLE THIS SEASON - MIGHT RETURN

CUSTOM GROW

Chives
Beaked Sedge

Chives are small bulbous perennials commonly used as herbs in cooking for a mild onion like flavour. Chives also add ornamental benefits to your yard with their tubular grass-like leaves and clusters of pale purple flowers. The flower heads can also be used as a garnish or in oils.

It is best to harvest Chives from the base to maintain the attractive clumps. If the flowers are not dead-headed, it will self-seed. Planting our overwintered chives will give you a head start in your vegetable garden.

Beaked Sedge is a native perennial wetland plant that forms dense clumps of tall, grass-like stems. It produces distinctive beaked seed heads that mature from late spring into summer. The plant provides food for waterfowl, muskrats, and other wildlife, while its dense growth offers cover for birds and small mammals. Its flowers and seed structures contribute to pollinator and invertebrate habitat in aquatic ecosystems.

Thriving in saturated soils and shallow water, Beaked Sedge is common in marshes, fens, and riparian zones. Its rhizomatous growth enables it to spread into large colonies that stabilize soils and support overall wetland health. Hardy and low-maintenance once established, it is well-suited to riparian plantings, naturalization, and ecological restoration projects.

Chives Quick Facts

Beaked Sedge Quick Facts

Zone: 4a
Zone: 1b
Height: 0.5 m (1.5 ft)
Height: 0.6 m (2.0 ft)
Spread: 0.4 m (1.3 ft)
Spread: 0.9 m (3 ft)
Light: partial shade, full sun
Light: partial shade, full sun
Moisture: dry, normal
Moisture: wet
Growth rate: fast
Growth rate: fast
Life span: short
Life span: short
Growth form: upright, clump-forming
Spreading: rhizomes - medium, seeds - low
Suckering: none


Flowers: purple
Flavor: onion/garlic
Hybrid: no
Hybrid: no
Catkins: no
Catkins: no


Native to: AB, BC, SK, MB, ON, QC, NS, NB, NL, YT, NT, NU
Native to: AB, BC, SK, MB, ON, QC, NS, NB, NL, YT, NT, NU, PE
Other Names: schnittlauch
Other Names: bladder sedge, bottle shaped sedge, common beaked sedge, northern beaked sedge, northwest territory sedge