[permaculture] perennial kale in Houston?
yarrow at sfo.com
yarrow at sfo.com
Sun Nov 1 05:36:02 EST 2009
>On Nov 1, 2009, at 4:09 AM, yarrow at sfo.com wrote:
>> Is anyone in the south growing perennial kale (aka tree collards)
>> successfully?
At 4:29 PM -0500 11/1/09, Brandy Davis wrote:
>My neighbor had what she thought was "plain ol' kale" last through the
>winter her in Chattanooga. It did sorta look like a tree. I'm having
>good luck with Arugula self seeding.
>> _______________________________________________
I've kept many "annual" kales for at least 2-3 years by limiting the
number of flower heads that can go to seed (eating them!).
I was excited about the description of Western Front perennial kale
in the book Perennial Vegetables by Toensmeier, but when I searched
for it online, the one source I found described it as a selection of
mostly Red Russian kale that will live about 3 years. Seeds were
collected from the 10 percent of seedlings that survived cold
winters. Has anyone tried Western Front?
Anyway, the perennial kale I have gets purpler in cooler months and
hasn't produced any flowers at all in the 4-5 years or so I've been
growing it. Cuttings I planted last fall quickly grew to 5-6 ft.
high, and the plant loves to sprawl if allowed to.
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