Pots of chives appear in grocers' shops and vegetable stores, a dollar's worth of goodness for ten cents. Europe learned to use chives as early as the sixteenth century. In our own land the Dutch settlers planted them in their pastures so their cows would give chive-flavored milk. I'm telling this, but not recommending it. When growing up, we always knew when Spring was here as that was the first greenery the cows would find there in Kansas.
Chives are hardy.
They like to be cut, springing up abundantly from their shorn stems. As for their uses, they are manifold. Salads, omelettes, sauces, cheese, potatoes, potato salad, all are improved by their addition. J agric food chem. Characteristic anthocyanin pattern from onions and other Allium spp.