The Purple Stripe Family — Beautiful, Flavorful & Worth Growing
Beautiful in the garden, gorgeous at harvest and exceptional in the kitchen — Purple Stripe garlic gives you plenty of reasons to grow it beyond its good looks.
Purple Stripe garlic is one of the most beautiful families of hardneck garlic, but there is much more to it than its striking appearance. These garlics are known for their purple-streaked bulb wrappers, excellent flavor, dependable cold hardiness, and wonderful performance in the kitchen.
What Makes Purple Stripe Special?
Purple Stripe garlic produces beautiful bulbs with purple striping and coloring that can become especially pronounced when the plants mature under cooler conditions. But don’t choose Purple Stripes just for their looks.
Their flavor is one of their best qualities. Purple Stripes tend to have a rich, complex, full garlic flavor with a pleasant heat when raw. When roasted, that heat mellows and develops into a sweet, deep, almost caramelized flavor. They’re excellent for roasting, sauces, breads, soups, pestos and any recipe where you really want to taste the garlic.
Many Purple Stripe varieties also make excellent baking garlic because of their flavor and easy-to-use cloves.
Growing Purple Stripe Garlic
Purple Stripes are hardneck garlics and perform especially well where they experience a true winter.
Plant in full sun in fertile, well-drained soil. Separate the bulbs shortly before planting and plant the individual cloves with the pointed end up, generally about 2–3 inches deep. Good fertility is important, particularly during active spring growth.
Once spring growth begins, garlic benefits from adequate nitrogen and consistent moisture. Keep the bed weed-free because garlic doesn’t compete well with weeds. As the plants approach maturity, reduce feeding, and once scapes appear, it’s time to let the plant concentrate its energy on finishing those beautiful bulbs.
Purple Stripe Scapes
Purple Stripes produce a distinctive scape that emerges from the center of the plant and develops its characteristic curl as it grows. Harvest it while young and tender. Removing the scape also allows the plant to direct more of its energy toward developing the bulb.
Scapes are delicious in pesto, scape butter, stir-fries, grilled or anywhere you’d like a fresh, mild garlic flavor.
Want to Grow Purple Stripes in a Warmer Climate?
You can!
Because Purple Stripe is a hardneck garlic, it needs a period of cold — called vernalization — to help trigger proper bulb development and clove formation.
Gardeners in colder climates normally get this naturally from winter. If you live in a warmer growing zone without enough sustained winter chill, you can pre-chill the seed garlic before planting.
Keep the bulbs intact and refrigerated at approximately 35–40°F for about 6–8 weeks before planting. Don’t freeze them, and don’t store them in a sealed plastic bag where excess moisture can encourage mold. A breathable paper or mesh bag works well.
In very warm climates, giving hardneck garlic adequate vernalization can make the difference between a poorly divided bulb and the beautiful, well-developed Purple Stripe bulbs you’re hoping to harvest.
And That Purple Color?
Genetics determine the characteristic Purple Stripe pattern, but growing conditions influence how intensely that color develops. Cool temperatures as the bulbs mature can help bring out stronger purple pigmentation. Variety, temperature, sunlight and maturity all play a role.
So while good fertility helps you grow a healthy, vigorous plant and a nice-sized bulb, fertilizer itself isn’t what makes Purple Stripe garlic purple.
Try a Purple Stripe This Fall
If you've never grown Purple Stripe garlic, plant some this year and see what you think.
And if you're not sure which variety to choose, don't worry too much about picking the "perfect" garlic. Part of growing garlic is trying different varieties and finding out which ones do best in your garden — and which ones you like best in your kitchen.
That's how we've learned a lot of what we know.
Get some garlic in the ground this fall and see what happens.
