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permaculture - Re: [permaculture] perennial kale in Houston?

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  • From: yarrow@sfo.com
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] perennial kale in Houston?
  • Date: Sun, 1 Nov 2009 02:36:02 -0800

On Nov 1, 2009, at 4:09 AM, yarrow@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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