Crambe maritima

[ottawagardener]

I'm declaring it: Officially very, very interested in working with this plant and more generally this Genus. Anyone else currently selecting?

[ferdzy]

No, I'm not even growing it. It's been on my to-try list for a while, though.

[steev]

I've futzed around with it a couple times, but it's been a "survival of the fittest" situation; it's not been the "fittest" yet. I agree it's interesting, but it's on my "what to do when I don't have enough to do" list.

[ottawagardener]

That doesn't sound promising for seakale growing in your garden Steev.

It's quite fit here though Crambe cordifolia is even more vigorous.

[steev]

Besides, I can't afford the cool blanching pots.

[billw]

I was trying to select on a number of different traits (leaf tenderness, floret size, earliness), but ran out of space. I need more land, more time, and quite possibly a time machine as well. Now just working on floret size, since I think that is the tastiest part. The root is pretty tasty too, but two years to grow a root the size of a parsnip is probably not attractive to most people.

Steev - black 5 gallon buckets work great for blanching. A row of black paint buckets with bricks on top is not nearly as picturesque as a bunch of terracotta pots, but it does have the advantage of being free, or nearly so.

[steev]

I've a plethora of 5gal pots; when I really want to block light, I use two, with the holes offset.

[ottawagardener]

I do the offset pot thing too though I've discovered that just overly burying them and piling on some leaves creates blanched stems too though I bit trickier to locate without breaking unduly. PS I discovered this by tossing leaves on where I'd *thought* I'd removed them. Also discovered the vegetable blanched Crambe cordifolia…

billw: That's definitely one of my goals: larger floret size. Another is high purple coloration.

[billw]

Trixtrax sent me a picture of a dark purple sea kale that really impressed me. So, it looks like they're already out there somewhere in the wild. It would be great to find a source. Some of mine get a bit of purple during the spouting phase, but then go almost entirely green as the leaves mature.

[ottawagardener]

Mine is very purple during sprouting but goes mostly blue-green later. I have a host of pictures on fb, I should import here. There is mention of a dark one too in the Angers paper. So we know there is a tendency toward that. If anyone can get ahold of seeds/thongs… I know a few people interested.

[philagardener]

Here are some pretty images described as taken at Cogden Beach, Dorset (UK).  ottawagardener , maybe beach environments with high light and salt enhance the anthocyanin coloration as a stress response?

[ottawagardener]

At that stage of growth, they are typically purple especially in cool weather. I'll see if I can transfer over some pictures shortly. Mine species are all purple as they unfurl. My hope is to get some that are purple when completely open like in flower. They sure are pretty.

[ottawagardener]

Species seakale from two different locations, emergence and flower buds







Compared to lilywhite in flowerbud:



Somewhere I probably have a lilywhite emergence photo but I'd have to hunt for it.

[cortona]

well. some really interesting and nice photos, i'm courius about your results, maybe in future i can try growing it here

[taihaku]

I've also been meaning to try this - I'm thinking I may grow lilywhite and also collect some local plants/seeds and try and get a strain that will do very well locally.

If anyone would be interested in wild seed I should be able to source some easily later in the year....