Gibberellins (GAs) are important phytohormones that regulate many developmental processes in plants. Clove, as the reproductive organ of garlic, dramatically affected garlic bulb development. Considering the potential of gibberellins in plant development and our previous studies, we investigated the effect of soaking two types of seed cloves (seed clove-I: without root/shoot sprouting; seed clove-Ⅱ: with root/shoot sprouting) in GA3 solution on axillary bud development and examined the effect of soaking seed cloves in GA3 solution on bulb development, phytohormone level and sugar content in this study. Results indicated seed clove types, soaking liquids and their interaction significantly affected the number of cloves per bulb and the rate of single-clove bulb. Moreover, soaking seed cloves in 1 mmol L–1 GA3 solution for 24 h not only promoted axillary bud formation and secondary plant growth (equal to tillering or branching), but also slightly increased the number of cloves per bulb and changed bulb structure with a low yield and marketable quality. On the 40th day after GA3 treatment (at axillary bud outgrowth stage), zeatin riboside (ZR) and soluble protein in stem were sharply increased with the increase of GA3, sucrose, fructose and soluble protein in leaf. However, GA3, indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), soluble sugar and sucrose in stem (3.52 ng g–1 fresh weight (FW), 19.88 ng g–1 FW, 237.3 mg g–1 FW, and 8.24 mg g–1 FW, respectively) were significantly decreased on the 40th day after GA3 treatment, compared to the control of water treatment (5.56 ng g–1 FW, 32.96 ng g–1 FW, 263.6 mg g–1 FW, and 10.37 mg g–1 FW, respectively). To our knowledge, these novel results indicate seed cloves soaked in GA3 solution promotes axillary bud formation and outgrowth that caused the changes in plant architecture and bulb structure. Meanwhile, our findings suggest that the level of endogenous plant hormone (GA3, IAA and ZR) cooperates with the content of sugar (sucrose and fructose) in leaf and stem to regulate axillary bud outgrowth in garlic.