Cold hardiness & minimum temperature

Is Chives (Allium schoenoprasum)cold hardy? Hardiness zone & min temp

Also called common chives, onion chives.

About Chives

Allium schoenoprasum · also called common chives, onion chives · herb

Chives are hardy perennial onion-family herbs grown for hollow grass-like leaves and edible purple pompom flowers. Easy and long-lived in pots or gardens. Toxic to cats and dogs like all alliums — keep away from pets.

Allium schoenoprasum, a hardy clump-forming perennial onion relative that grows from clusters of small underground bulbs, producing fine hollow leaves and round pink-purple flower heads in mid-summer.

Harvest by cutting leaves about an inch above soil throughout the season to keep them tender and spur new bulblets; remove faded flowers to stop heavy self-sowing.

Cold limit: USDA 3-9 · RHS H7 (13-24°C)

Sources: extension.umn.edu, extension.illinois.edu, rhs.org.uk

What chives's hardiness rating actually means

Yes — chives is genuinely cold hardy. Rated RHS H7 and USDA 3-9, it lives outdoors all year and needs winter cold rather than protection from it. Its RHS rating of H7 means: Hardy in the severest European continental winters. On the US scale that maps to USDA 3-9 — the zones where it can be left outdoors year-round.

New to these scales? The USDA hardiness zone map explained covers how the zone numbers work, and you can find your own zone with the zone finder.

Minimum temperature — and what happens below it

Minimum survivable temperature is roughly below about −20 °C. Chives is built for winter — once established it takes hard frost and snow in its stride.

Concretely, for chives as it gets too cold:

It tolerates winter lows to about −20 °C once established.
Below its rated zone, the visible damage is browned or blackened top growth and, in the worst case, a killed crown or root.
First-year, newly planted, or container-grown specimens are noticeably less hardy than established garden plants — the roots are exposed.

Can chives go outside or overwinter — and where?

Plant it out within USDA 3-9 and it overwinters with little or no help.
It does not want to come indoors — a warm winter room actually weakens a hardy plant by denying it dormancy.
The real risks in its range are waterlogging, wind-rock on young plants, and a late hard frost on new growth — not ordinary winter cold.

Work back from your local frost dates with the frost-date calculator: the last spring frost and first autumn frost are what really decide when chives can be outside. US growers can check USDA zones; UK growers should use the RHS hardiness ratings, which match the H7 figure above.

Chives hardiness — frequently asked questions

Is chives cold hardy?

Yes — chives is genuinely cold hardy. Rated RHS H7 and USDA 3-9, it lives outdoors all year and needs winter cold rather than protection from it. An outdoor plant. Chives is hardy across USDA 3-9; it belongs in the ground or a frost-proof container, not on a windowsill, and many types actively need a cold winter to perform.

What is the minimum temperature chives can survive?

Minimum survivable temperature is roughly below about −20 °C. Chives is built for winter — once established it takes hard frost and snow in its stride.

What hardiness zone is chives?

Chives is rated USDA 3-9 and RHS H7 — Hardy in the severest European continental winters.

Can chives survive winter outside?

Plant it out within USDA 3-9 and it overwinters with little or no help. It does not want to come indoors — a warm winter room actually weakens a hardy plant by denying it dormancy. The real risks in its range are waterlogging, wind-rock on young plants, and a late hard frost on new growth — not ordinary winter cold.

What happens to chives below its minimum temperature?

It tolerates winter lows to about −20 °C once established. Below its rated zone, the visible damage is browned or blackened top growth and, in the worst case, a killed crown or root. First-year, newly planted, or container-grown specimens are noticeably less hardy than established garden plants — the roots are exposed.