Favorite spring and fall kale with deep green/blue/black color and blistered, "dinosaur skin" texture on strap-shaped leaves. Holds its shape and texture in soups and pasta sauces. Nice flavor, even better in cold weather. Overwintered plants make tender sweet edible flower shoots as well. Beautiful contrast to other vegetables or to flowers. I like this in tubs by the kitchen door with flowers and contrasting lettuces.

Our seed is Frank Morton's improved "Wild Garden" strain, which is hardier to heat and cold, and more productive than standard strains. However, no Lacinato kale is as cold-hardy as the Siberian kales like White Russian. This is an OSSI-pledged open source variety. Brassica oleracea. 60 days to full size. 80 seeds

The Open Source Seed Initiative exists so that breeders who originate new varieties can protect them from exploitation and patenting by corporations. It means that the breeder has freely given up patent rights in order to keep the variety in the public domain forever. The OSSI pledge reads: "You have the freedom to use these OSSI-pledged seeds in any way you choose. In return, you pledge not to restrict others' use of these seeds or their derivatives, by patents or other means, and to include this pledge in any transfer of these seeds or their derivatives."