Australian Garlic
Celebrating and understanding our garlic groups and cultivars
Monaro Purple
Hardneck - Weakly Bolting
This cultivar falls into the Artichoke Group, Type 2 and shares its evolution with others in this sub-group from Formosan to Taiwanese and Taiwanese Purple. Long time grower Roger Schmitke selected bulbs from this heritage that produced larger bulbs and cloves then other cultivars grown in the 80s and 90s. These went to Queensland’s Gatton Research Station and over a 6 year period they were grown and selected and replanted, selecting only the biggest and best bulbs and cloves. In 1997 Southern Glen named and released.  See the Production of Garlic here
This day-length neutral cultivar is a very important cultivar for growers in warmer more northern regions.
General Information
International name/s: None, this is an Australian cultivar
Flavour: A good rich garlic flavour, hot raw and milder and more nutty when roasted.
Storage: Short to medium.
Growing location: Grows well in most garlic growing regions of Australia except the most humid. Southern NSW to Tasmania, SA and Southern WA.
Growing requirements: Likes winter cold and needs to be harvested quickly once bulbs are mature especially in warmer, more humid regions.
Planting and harvest: Plant and harvest early.
Bulb
Shape: Medium round flattened bulbs to 5-6 cm.
Skin colour and texture: When first harvested the skin is red/pink with strong blotching. After curing skins are pale mauve with strong purple striping or blotching. Skin is strong but thin and flakes easily.
Clove
Number and layout: 10-11 cloves in one layer with sometimes a few smaller internal cloves.
Size and shape: Large, chunky to more slender blunt tipped cloves. 2.5 cm tall x 1.5-2 cm wide. The cloves’ inner surface is angled but rounded.
Skin colour and texture: Creamy pink and tan, with purple striping, becoming more tan with aging.
Plant
Size and shape: In mild to warm climates plants are normally strong, but not overly substantial to 45 - 50cm without the scape. In cool climates the plants are often stronger and quite substantial.
Leaves: Medium width, long and floppy many fold ½ way along the leaf. Leaves spaced up the pseudostem with medium gaps.
Young plants: Strong and well advanced compared to other groups at 12 weeks. Tall pseudostem with leaves well-spaced and lower leaves horizontal.
Matures: Plants mature very fast with rapid bulb development just before harvest. Must harvest as soon as the bulbs are large enough to avoid badly split skins and also side shooting. In mild to warm climate the plants weaken near maturity and in some seasons they can lean or fall over. In cool climates the plants tend to remain strong.
Scape: A weakly bolting scape forms an upsidedown U.
Umbel and beak: Small turban shaped umbel with a long beak.
Bulbils and flowers: Small to medium rice-grain sized or bigger pink and red bulbils. Usually 20 to 50. No flowers.
Artichoke Group
Silverskin Group
Subtropical Group
Asiatic Group
Creole Group
Middle Eastern Group
Turban Group
- Flinders Island Purple
- Glamour
- Italian Purple
- Monaro Purple
- Ontos Purple
- Shandong
- Tasmanian Purple
- White Crookneck
- Xian