Giant Taunton Deane Perennial Kale

On 13th June 2016, I visited National Trust garden Knightshayes Court near Tiverton in Devon, 5 years after I was there last: 
http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?page_id=2505

Many thanks to Sam Brown for showing me around backstage and for posing for scale next to this giant Taunton Deane’s Cottagers Kale, the UK’s only documented old surviving cultivated perennial kale! This one was acccording to Christina Damerel only about 5-6 years old. I was bowled over to see the cottagers kales when I visited 5 years ago, but hadn’t realised how big they could get. The pictures in the link above show plants that weren’t actually that old… The plant in the picture below has a similar stature to the Californian Tree Collards. Sam told me that the woodpigeons graze the higher leaves (you can see this in the picture), but the lower ones are left alone and are  also better tasting. The “trunk” was massive!
More pictures from this still great edible walled garden when I get a chance!

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