type :
Perennials
sun exposure :
Full Sun, Partial Shade
water :
Regular Water
planting zones :
US (Upper South) / Zone 6, MS (Middle South) / Zone 7, LS (Lower South) / Zone 8
Plant Details
Two species of these big, cabbage- like perennials are occasionally seen. Both have large, smooth leaves and much-branched clusters of small, honey-scented white owers. They appreciate rich, well-drained garden soil and require considerable space. In the Lower South, provide light afternoon shade.
giant kale, heartleaf colewort
crambe cordifolia
- From the Caucasus.
- Forms a 3 feet-wide mound of branching stems bearing dark green, 1 feet-wide leaves on long stalks.
- Flowering stem set with smaller leaves can reach 8 feet tall.
- Broad, branching ower cluster, up to 5 feet wide, somewhat resembles a gargantuan baby's breath (Gypsophila).
- Requires a big garden and leaves a big vacancy when summer owering is nished; plug in annuals to ll the space.
- Use in big borders to astonish your friends.
sea kale
crambe maritima
- From coastal northern Europe.
- To 2 feet tall and wide, with branched, purplish stems carrying blue-gray leaves up to 1 feet wide.
- In early summer, sends up a 1- to 2 feet-tall stem with ower clusters to 1 feet wide.
- Leafstalks were once widely used as a cooked (steamed) vegetable.
- A favorite of Thomas Jefferson at Monticello.
- Blanch leafstalks as they grow by placing large pots or boxes over them.