Chive Seeds Heirloom Herb. Chive seeds grow as tufts of grassy, tubular leaves shaped much like miniature onion leaves. Use the delicate, mild onion-flavoured leaves in salads, soups, stews, omelettes and dips. Plants grow in clusters to 15 cm (6″) high and produce pretty, edible, purple ball-shaped flowers about 2.5 cm (1″) in diameter. Often gardeners find chives spreading throughout the garden easily on their own. Despite this, chives can be a fussy germinator, with the seed sometimes taking much longer to emerge than expected. While it often spreads from established plants by self-seeding, it is not considered invasive.