What it is
Tree Collard (Brassica oleracea (perennial)) is in the Brassicaceae (Mustard) family. A collard that never quits — a woody perennial brassica you propagate from cuttings and harvest leaves from for years.
How to grow it
It wants full sun to part shade, water it even moisture, and give it rich, well-drained soil. Target a soil pH around 6.0–7.5. Space plants about 24–36 in apart. Expect roughly Greens within weeks; lives for years. Tender perennial.
How it's used
Tree Collard is used: cooked greens.
🔎 How to identify it
- Tall woody stalk topped with collard-like leaves
- Often purple-tinged foliage
- Rarely flowers; grown from cuttings
Edibility
How to grow & propagate tree collard
Everything I've worked out about starting this one, keeping it alive through a Texas year, and turning one plant into many — free.
How to propagate tree collard
The cabbage family is a cool-season seed crop. Start the heading types (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower) in trays 5–6 weeks before you want them in the ground; sow the fast roots and greens (radish, turnip, mustard, arugula) straight into the bed. They all cross with each other readily, so if you're saving seed, only let one variety of a given species flower at a time.
Growing tree collard in Texas
Give it full sun to part shade and rich, well-drained soil. Match the spot to the plant and most of the battle is already won.
Because it's a perennial, the work is mostly up front. Get it sited and established and it comes back on its own year after year — one of the best returns on effort in the whole garden.
Keep moisture even, especially while it's young — deep, less-frequent soaks build better roots than a daily sprinkle.
Harvesting
Figure on roughly greens within weeks; lives for years before you're harvesting. Harvest at peak and keep harvesting — most vegetables produce harder the more you pick, and one left to over-mature tells the plant its job is done. The part you're after: leaves.
Making more for free
Every seed we sell is open-pollinated, which means you can save your own from the best plants and it'll grow true next year. Let a few of your strongest plants finish and go to seed, dry it fully, and store it cool and dark. That's the whole point of heirlooms — buy once, grow forever.
Part of the free Texas Roots plant database, compiled by Jordan Polasek from his greenhouse in El Campo, Texas. Free to read and share. If it helped, the best thanks is to grow something.