Jan–MarApr–JunJul–SepOct–Dec
Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-321
Perennial Kale
Brassica oleracea var ramosa
Perennial kale is a standing shrub-sized brassica grown for two harvests off one plant - the cabbage-flavored leaves, best picked young, and the flowering shoots, eaten like sprouting broccoli before they open. It's cold-hardy to well below freezing, but heat is what actually limits it, so in a hot-summer climate it behaves as a cool-season cropper: it survives the summer rather than producing through it, then feeds you again from fall into late spring without ever needing resowing. It's propagated from cuttings and rarely sets viable seed, so once established it stays exactly where it's planted.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun · Partial Sun · Shade
- USDA zone
- USDA 8–10
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Well-Drained · Moderate
Vertical layer
Shrub- Soil pH
- 4.2–8.3
- Plant type
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 4–8 ft
- Mature spread
- 3.9–4.9 ft
- Plant spacing
- 12–36 in
- Root type
- Not yet recorded
- Spread pattern
- None
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The deeper layer
Plan what comes next.
- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
- Locked ecological function
- Byproduct
- Locked ecological function
Behind the record
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