You can grow most any type in that zone, the Creole is one that grows best in the south so stay away from those. Arti's are more mild, Purple stripes are warmer and more flavor. Roc's are good but in my experience doesn't have a long shelf life (Bill will disagree with me) Silver skins are great, long shelf life. You'll figure out what the fav 5 is because most every grower has them.

I would say no to planting now - where you are this is about the time to be harvesting garlic. Many onions grow based on day length. If you plant now, more than likely it would sit in the soil, most would rot as it got hot over the summer or be eaten by things in the ground, and maybe something would still be there when day length tells it that it's okay to start sprouting and growing in the fall. Better to keep it in a cool, dry spot through the summer and then plant in October. Good fertile soil is all that's needed, compost is good, not too much nitrogen, and for any onion family you don't want the soil to be acidic(add lime if you have a whole lot of organic materials). No trimming, but many remove the scapes (which can be eaten - I like to dice them, saute briefly, and cook in an omelet or add to potatoes) in order to help promote growing bigger heads of garlic rather than working on flowers.

January is a bit too late to be planting garlic here in California. You should have planted them in September or October. Sometimes very large cloves are actually "siamese twins" and they will have two sets of foliage. I am growing Korean Red which seems to have that characteristic more than the others I grow.

Well it's done...I planted about 100 bulbs all around my flower beds, garden...anywhere I had free dirt space :) They are all the same variety, of which I have no idea...but they came from the farmers market nearby...so I can only hope that they are worthwhile...they sure tasted good to me...and the bulbs? cloves? were all very good sized. I discovered as I was digging in one of my front flower beds plopping down cloves here there and everywhere (5-6 inches apart), it is healthier than I thought...I pulled up a plant that had a BIG OLE fat worm attached to it...it looked like a baby snake!! that is a great thing to see in your dirt....Hope it doesn't eat my garlic bulbs ;) thanks for the responses...I'll be excited to see what comes. I'll be one of those eager posters who you will hear from again in the spring, when I have garlic growing everywhere!!!