Prettiest Pink Garlic

A few years back, my garlic supplier, Farmer Guy, had a very limited supply of this super lovely French pink garlic called Rose de Lautrec. The skins are pink, not purple like we are used to seeing, but a really pretty pink hue. The clove itself is all white.

This gorgeous Creole type garlic comes from the southwest of France, an area known for its green hillsides, food and wine, and 13th-century medieval-era villages. The name is geographically protected to the Lautrec area that it grows in, so is usually called Pink Lautrec when grown elsewhere. According to legend, Rose de Lautrec garlic arrived in the region during the Middle Ages from a merchant who, traveling through the area, was not able to pay his meal at a local tavern and instead offered the owner bulbs of pink garlic in exchange.

I love growing different colours and types of garlic and this pink was so pretty that I had to get some! Farmer Guy only had 'small' bulbs available, which I would generally never buy. I usually only order 'large' bulbs as I used to sell them for planting at my wee greenhouse; the bigger cloves you plant, the bigger bulbs you harvest. My goal at the ngp was to sell the very best product always, so that my gardener friends were successful and thus excited about growing food. However, these bulbs were so unique that I bought them anyways. I think you can understand why, eh?

Rose de Lautrec is a Creole type garlic, which is known to be pretty particular about its growing location. Is best grown in the far south as it likes long days, lots of heat and sunshine to size up.

I can attest to it taking some time to size up. I have now been growing this garlic for 5 years from those original small bulbs and they are just now edging up towards what I consider a really good-sized 'medium' bulb. See my two biggest ones above.

It will be interesting to see how my sweet Rose fares here in the new garden, in a colder zone. We tend to have hotter, longer days in summer than on the island, so it might thrive... if I can just get it through the long, cold winter. Eek! In hindsight, I realise that I should have left a bulb or two with someone back on the island, someone to carry on growing and sizing up this beautiful garlic, just in case.

If you enjoy growing different types and hues of garlic, you need to try this one, the prettiest pink garlic.... if you can find it. Maybe I will have some to offer in a year or two. Crossing my fingers. Never be afraid to try something new.

Happy Garlic Planting and Growing ~ Tanja