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Purple Tree Collard
purple tree collards growing in the vegetable garden
Purple tree collards are both beautiful and edible and can be propagated through cuttings really easily
Purple Tree collards with poppies

Purple Tree Collard perennial brassica small rooted cutting

£7.50

Rooted cutting in a 1L pot. Purple Tree Collards – Brassica Oleracea. A beautiful long lived perennial brassica with deep purple leaves.

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Description

Purple Tree Collards – Brassica Oleracea. A beautiful long lived perennial brassica with the most attractive deep purple tasty leaves. This one seems to be the most elusive of all the perennial collards and kales, more commonly found in the USA than the UK. Each plant can grow more than 2m tall with an upright habit with a central stem and bushy top growth. Once mature, leaves can be harvested all year round. Plants can go on producing for many years ( we have heard 20 years, but not sure if that is true!) and are hardy down to about -10c. By taking stem cuttings from mature plants, you can propagate all your future stock yourself and Purple Tree Collards are the fastest at rooting. So from this single plant, you can basically produce Purple Tree Collards for the rest of your life.

About

Purple Tree collards are part of the Brassica Oleracea group. They are long lived perennial brassicas that produce delicious deep purple collard leaves. They seem to be one of the most elusive of all the perennial brassicas, more commonly found in the USA than the UK. They produce the best tasting tender leaves, and once established can be harvested for most of the year. We have read that plants can live for up to 20 years in the right conditions. Our oldest plants are five years old, so we are yet to find out how long they live for. Leaves turn deeper purple as the plants mature.

How to grow

When your plant arrives, plant it out in a deep planting hole and firm it down. It does not need a particularly well cultivated bed, just an area free of weeds and grass. Give plants an occasional mulch of compost and prune off any dead branches to keep them thriving. You will need to stake plants as they become top heavy and a prone to wind damage in exposed sites. They take up more vertical space than horizontal space and can be grown amongst other plants. They can reach more than 2m tall. They are striking ornamental and edible plants and we underplant ours with all kinds of perennial alliums, herbs and self sowing flowers.

Propagating more plants

Purple Tree Collards can flower ( but very rarely) so seed collection is possible, but they will cross with other brassicas. The best way to propagate them to ensure they are true to type is through stem cuttings (a thick side stem with all leaves removed apart from the growing tip). Out of all our perennial brassicas, Purple Tree Collards root the fastest – they practically start rooting just by waving them over a pot of compost! We recommend taking cuttings once or twice a year so you always have more plants as back up.

Pests & diseases

Purple Tree Collards can suffer from the same pests as regular brassicas but have far greater resilience to them in our experience. You may need to protect young plants from slugs, cabbage whites and pigeons until they become established. However, Purple Tree Collards seem to be better at fending off pests than other perennial brassicas and barely get any damage in our field.

Harvesting & eating

Let your plant get to a reasonable size before you start harvesting. Once mature you can harvest leaves all year round. Use exactly as any other green vegetable or kale. It has the most delicious nutty taste and is tender when cooked.

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“Thanks for everything, the info sheet was great. I planted the cuttings the day they arrived and have just multi sown the 9 star in seed trays. All very exciting, we’re now planning our perennial area.”

“You are right, perennial kale is fantastic! Thanks so much for the cuttings. I am a convert to having a corner of perpetual kale in the patch!”

“As the evening sun back lit the plants at Incredible Vegetables, I felt I was standing in one of the most important gardens of our time. Wildflowers working alongside an abundance of edimentals and perennial vegetables. A ‘food glade’ to rival the aesthetic of our greatest plant designers.”

– Jon Davies, garden designer, London Glades –

“I love your website and the work you’re doing. What you’re doing is exiting, useful, and one day will help to replace and enhance what human kind has damaged.With that our natural friends will return and we’ll be better for it.”

“Mandy, thank you. I am delighted with this plant – it is so strong and healthy and exceptionally well packaged – all done with loving care obviously. I shall look forward to having more plants from you.”

“Plants all arrived lovely and are growing well. I just wanted to say i was very impressed with the quality of the cuttings.. and its been a pleasure dealing with you. And I look forward to any purchases in the future.”

“The kale cuttings you sent survived the winter and are thriving. Thank you Mandy Barber you are the super hero of edibles, loving your work!!”

“I bought some Skirret seed’s off you last year. Well they grew and yesterday some got cooked and this message is just to say, they were delicious. Looking forward to a lot more next year. Thank you.”

“The Taunton Dean cuttings arrived a short while ago and never have I seen healthier looking cuttings! They are now firmly ensconced in some nice compost and are having a good drink. I even loved the packaging, which will be composted.”

“Hi I just wanted to let you know that I sowed half of my Caucasian spinach seeds and every single one grew, absolutely amazed, thanks for the seeds and keep up the good work.”

“Just to let you know that the lovely healthy looking plants arrived. Your plants are simply outstanding, every single tuber and plant are growing amazingly.”

“The plants arrived safely, I did not expect such magnificent specimens! I didn’t think I would be successful at stratification etc but I now have a whole bunch of Hablitzia seedlings sprouting after following your excellent advice.”

“Just to say, the Daubentons Kale is in the ground and looking well – thanks to the lovely damp compost encasing its roots…you do a good job at your end, I can tell by the way you package. Will be back for more of your wonderful perennials.”

“Thank you so much for all the vegetables, they really are incredible. I’m sure I’ve never before seen a healthier rootball than the one that arrived with our happy looking daubentons kale, and seeds and tubers are thriving thanks to all the useful information provided.”

“Thank you so much for sending such wonderful, healthy and very large plants. They are beautiful !! You packaged them so well and they arrived so quickly – I couldn’t get to the post office till the following day but they were absolutely fine. They’re now potted up and sitting in my ‘cold’ greenhouse while they adjust.”

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If at all possible please contact us by email at info@incrediblevegetables.co.uk, rather than by phone, as we can answer you much more quickly by email. 

If you do need to phone, the number is below - leave us a brief message and we will get back to you as soon as we can. Most days we are out working in the field so sometimes we are unable to answer the phone if we have our hands full.

We look forward to hearing from you,

Mandy and Julien