Finding this hard to believe, Daubenton flowering

[richardw]

Certainly looks a nice plant

[steev]

I've never eaten an "ornmental" kale that wasn't sweet and delicious.

[shoshannah]

rangardener, Nice looking variegated kale!   I too have planted some of that kale mixture but haven't come up with variegated versions. 

When did you plant your seed?  I'm in the northern Willamette Valley.  

[rangardener]

Hi, shoshannah, the variegation only showed up after summer, earlier they all looked quite "normal". I think I started the seeds in March or April. I believe the frequency is quite high - as I also saw reporting of similar plant(s) on the FB group (which I do not participate). Chris should have the number. (He seems not to post on this forum often these days.) I'll ask him if I see him next spring in the scion exchange.

So far the two variegated ones I have are apparently shorter than others in the group. I hope they are actually perennial.

BTW, my place is south to Albany, almost identical to the climate of your location, maybe slightly warmer in winter.

[philip]

Hi there,
i was Lucky to get my hands on daubenton x tree Collard seeds that i grew out.
After the usual neglect and so forth i ended up being able to select promising progeny from about 80 plants and am now the happy owner of at least 6 very good (for now) varieties of perennial kale. One selection criteria was to ruthlessly kill anything that ran to seed so i had to remove almost two-thirds.
So i now have 6 very vigourous fairly different kales that are growing and looking good, with another 15 or so that are less vigourous and whose characteristics have yet to be determined. They were all grown in very poor soil with no fertilizer.
I am looking forward to see which ones will set seed next year and thus sign their death sentence (i know this sounds cruel, but hey perennial kale is not supposed to make seeds, right?)
I will try and post some pictures of my new perennial kale varieties once ,and if, i get around to doing it

[richardw]

please do, would like to see them

[steev]

Sounds promising.

[philip]

Hello,

i just posted pictures of my perennial kales here:

permies.com/t/71003/Perennial-Kale


I am sorry but i may favour this forum in the future simply because posting pictures is so much easier there.

[rangardener]

Update on growing trixtrex’s Homesteaders Perennial Kaleidoscopic kale grex from 2016:

- 8 of the 15 plants survived the deep freezes of last winter (which killed purple tree collards).
- None of the two “ornamental” types survived the deep freezes. (Too bad!)
- 6 of the 8 plants flowered and set seeds profusely. I harvested about one pound of seeds.


(photo: 0710 2017)

- After seed harvesting and with flower stalks cut, all resumed growth of new leaves.



(photo: 0904 2017)

- Morphology: one “crawler” (long stem, could not support itself), two tall “tree-collard-like”, the 5 remaining plants are of medium sizes. The leaves of the two “tree-collard-like” plants are relatively softer compared to those of purple tree collard.
- Taste: obviously my wife is a super taster, who can tell the difference and considered about half of them “hot” and the remaining “mild”. They all tasted good to me raw. When cooked, they all tasted good even in summer. Tasting results this summer were consistent with tests done last summer. 

Misc.:
- Planted out another 32 this spring.
- Took some cuttings in late summer and they readily rooted.
- I talked with trixtrex in May and he kindly offered several new crosses to try, obviously he has been making great progress. Unfortunately I had to decline due to the space limitation. 

[galina]

Well this year for the very first time my variegated Daubenton is flowering. Just in bud at the moment, but I think it is going to be flowering white. Hope that it will cross with the Portuguese perennial kale. Any tips on how to help nature and handpollinate?

Very excited. Last winter was pretty grim and it is still very cold now. Today the first apple blossom opened, everything is very late. I guess this might have been close to survival for this kale, hence the flowers. The same Daubentons at MIL's more sheltered garden (I gave her a cutting last year) is not flowering, but has developed a plain green branch. The Taunton Dean is not flowering but the oldest is dying back, only part of the plant is still lush.

Would love to get a cross and viable seed and select for better frost hardiness. Have also started a tray of Grandpa Maycocks Collards, which flower every year. Not all plants are perennial, but many go for 3 years and only the ones that do are allowed to go to seed. That would have been a good crossing partner too, but sadly, not available this year. Fingers crossed.

A few photos: www.growingfoodsavingseeds.co.uk/forum/main-forum/perennial-crops-and-permaculture/5904-daubenton-s-kale-and-relatives

[philagardener]

Hello galina ! Great to see your update and your pretty plants! It has been a strange year all around. Good luck with your crosses!

[galina]

Thank you William. The flowers still haven't opened and we had another frost last night. Pipe cleaner seems to do the trick. I wondered whether I should shake the expendable flowers on the Portuguese over the Daubenton's for pollination. An 'artificial bee' however makes a lot of sense.

[galina]

Very interesting. I now have a few open flowers on the Portuguese kale, but to my surprise the initially white buds on the variegated Daubenton's are definitely going to be yellow flowers. Still no open flowers, but advanced buds and clearly they are yellow.

I don't understand the difference between white and yellow flowering kales. As I intend crossing them, can anybody please advise me whether there is going to be a compatibility issue?

[galina]

www.jstor.org/stable/2456826?read-now=1&loggedin=true&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

I just found the answer to the above compatibility question. White flowering kale is an Asiatic form of brassica oleracea and crosses readily with yellow flowering, the white being dominant. Crossing experiments were done in the 1920s. They set seeds readily and were fertile. So it is no problem that one is white flowering the other yellow, it seems. Let us hope I can make it work too.

[galina]

The first flowers have turned into what I hope will become filled seed pods and more flowers on both are developing. I play bee, but hope that the real thing is also doing its stuff. Getting exciting now.