![]() They are high in Vitamins B1, B2, B9, C, and beta-Carotene and are a great source of fiber. Like other collard greens, Purple Tree Collards are very nutritious. In addition to humans, chickens and ducks love to eat tree collards and their egg yolks will turn a brilliant orange. They are very productive and tend to be more disease and pest resistant. Many people find that the flavor of Purple Tree Collards is superior to traditional collard greens. They can survive temperatures down to around 20 degrees Fahrenheit. They turn darker purple tones in cool months and are lighter green in warm months. They can get over eight feet in height and will continue to grow and produce year after year. Purple Tree Collards are a perennial vegetable related to collard greens. You may wish to pot them up in a one gallon container for a week or two upon arrival, but they can be transplanted directly into a garden bed as well. They are growing in small 2″ degradable peat pots. This listing is for three rooted Purple Tree Collard plants shipped USPS Priority Mail for gardeners who want to skip having to root their own cuttings (which can take a month or longer). This seed source will make a seed source for use as is and to create other zone 5 cultivars like "Michigan".Imagine never having to go to the store to buy greens again! I think zone 4 is not out of the question now when it hit -27F at the farm a few years ago and all the plants made it. However, it really needs further testing to see the limits. ![]() Despite the variation in this group, this is the hardiest and should easily survive zone 5 outdoors. Every seed source is different in terms of hardy brassicas. This seed source can provide both cultivar level selections with hardier versions that can survive several years without having to be replanted. Plants can be brought indoors during winter too and can be kept in a sort of a dormancy by putting them on a cool window sill. Tree collard stems can be kept in your refrigerator crisper section and stored that way through winter. tall in one season which can be trimmed to look like a thick Scots pine Christmas tree if you prune it vigorously. Gardeners in mild climates will find the plant reaching 4-6 ft. The flavor of the leaves is very mild and just delicious to eat fresh or cooked. This is an issue for some by finding hybrids within the collard group and not wanting something that looks different than the more common annual collards which are very uniform in appearance. Once someone called and wanted to return the plants because they are not true collards. The flavor seems to hold true but the leaf shapes are different. Eventually many of these ended up in my outdoor plantings. However with selection many of our plants have survived in our polyhouses without supplemental heat during the winter with lows reaching minus 17 F. Tree collards are considered a perennial Brassica but if it hits much below 25F the plant will unlikely survive the winter. This has allowed me to create hardier and more robust forms. I was extremely fortunate to get seeds and began a permanent polyhouse planting as well as an outdoor planting to develop perennial northern versions. This is how it is still propagated today. All the leaves were removed and then the stem or stalk was stuck into the soil. The plant was normally propagated from cuttings using stem cuttings. It provided valuable nutrition and was probably the first perennial vegetable in the south. Currently unavailable Tree collards came to the U.S.
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