Perennial kale   A few years ago i was offered some perennial kale seeds from a daubenton x tree collards cross made by Graham Jenkins-Belohorska who chanced upon those two varieties flowering at the same time in his garden. Normally perennial kale does not flower and just produces leaves for several years.

At some point the plant will then fall over and continue to grow or make roots again where it touches the ground. I have seen a perennial kale plant in ireland that was 15 years old.

I sowed the seeds and planted out the small kale plants. I then just let them grow and except some occasional weeding and looking after in the first few months the plants were then left to grow without care for 3 years. The second year i also removed all the plants that flowered.

I am now left with 3 different perennial kale varieties that grew from the daubenton x tree collards cross.

I can't really find a strong difference in flavour but i remember that one plant had leaves that tasted quite sweet. I have to try and take more time to compare the taste at different times of the year.

I recently rearranged my garden and had to pull out one of the large kale plants. It has now been lying on the ground for 2 months and we had a few frosts. Despite that it is turning up its growing tips and still looking quite good. It has no roots attached since i broke the stem off. I am sure one could still root these branches. I took several cuttings of all 3 varieties already.

uprooted perennial kale plant