This post is about Brassica oleracea var. ramosa ‘Luigi Leopold’ – but there is a lot of preamble!

Cabbages are hardly the most exciting of vegetables. If any vegetable was truly ‘common or garden’ surely it is the cabbage. Most people regard cabbages with disdain and I confess it is not the vegetable I buy most often. I would buy more, and eat more, if I could think of easy and imaginative ways to cook and eat it. I do like cabbage boiled and slathered in butter and pepper. 

But I am always slightly wary of bought cabbage because I know just how difficult it is to grow, or rather how many pests attack it. Pristine, hole-free cabbages must surely be sprayed many times, during their production, with insecticide. I am not against the use of insecticides but I don’t like eating bought veg where I am eating the part that has actually been sprayed. Every year I grow some cabbages, of various types, but almost always I have to clear away 70% of them, leaving me with a blonde, small head, as I pull away leaves munched by caterpillars and slugs. I think cabbages are among the most difficult of veg to grow organically. So I am always looking for alternatives and more of that below. 

Firstly, cabbages and their kin are all derived from the wild sea cabbage Brassica oleracea var. oleracea, the genus itself giving its name to the group ‘Brassica’ that gardeners know and to the plant family which is now called Brassicaceae and no longer Cruciferae. 

The wild cabbage grows on seaside cliffs and on beaches in west and south Europe, mostly on limestone soils. It is tolerant of wind and salt spray. It is a common plant on both sides of the English Channel. The wild plant is evergreen and, growing in mild, coastal areas, the leaves could be picked for human consumption all year but were especially useful in winter. It was domesticated thousands of years ago and, just as the wolf became innumerable types of domestic dog, it has been manipulated into the huge range of vegetables we know today. 

It can be hard to believe but kale, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kohl rabi and calabrese are all the same species, selected and bred from the wild cabbage. 

Brassica oleracea var. botrytis is cauliflower 

Brassica oleracea var. italica is calabrese 

Brassica oleracea var. gemmifera is Brussels sprouts

Brassica oleracea var. capitata is cabbage

Brassica oleracea var. capitata f. rubra is red cabbage

Brassica oleracea var. capitata f. sabauda is ‘Savoy’ cabbage

Brassica oleracea var. palmifolia is ‘Tuscan’ (‘Cavalo Nero’) kale

Brassica oleracea var. viridis is collards

Brassica oleracea var. acephala is kale

Brassica oleracea var. gongylodes is kohl rabi 

and

Brassica oleracea var. ramosa is perpetual kale 

Perpetual kale is a relatively primitive form of the species. It has not been manipulated to form a tight head of leaves (cabbage), a dense head of flower buds (cauliflower) or a ‘mini cabbage’ from each leaf bud along the stem (Brussels sprout). There are regional variants of perpetual kale found throughout western Europe and it crops up in the west of England and in Ireland with various names. It is commonly known as ‘Cottager’s kale’ or ‘hungry gap’ kale 

But the best documented is that known as Daubenton’s kale. It is named after the French naturalist Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton (1716-1800). He was best known for his work on animals and especially mammals. His name is remembered in the scientific name of the aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) and Daubenton’s bat (Myoptis daubentoni). But, as a gardener, I know his name from the kale that was named after him. 

He grew the kale in his home town of Montbard in the Bourgogne, in eastern France. He was interested in the farming of sheep and he introduced Merino sheep to France from Spain. In a book about sheep husbandry he wrote about ‘cuttings cabbage’. 

‘It is difficult to have a fairly large amount of cabbage for the numerous flocks: one must sow, transplant, watering for several days, and this care must be repeated annually; it would be too time-consuming and expensive for farmers. I would not consider that cabbage was of any advantage for the diet of flocks, had I not met a variety of cabbage that one can have without sowing, transplanting or watering, it is also unknown to naturalists and farmers: it resists frost, like kale and collards, and is better for their livestock because its cultivation is very easy. One can multiply by cuttings; just cut its lateral branches, which are in large numbers and put them in the ground, to soon have a whole field of new plants. The leaves are smaller than other cabbages; but their juice is also abundant; they may serve as food for the shepherds as well as the sheep;…..’

So with Daubenton’s kale we have an old plant, that is propagated by cuttings and that produces leaves all year. But it never (or very rarely) flowers and makes seed. It seems that for the next century perennial kales were quite popular but then seed-raised kales took their place. 

The perennial kale is an odd thing. Because it rarely flowers there is no chance of improvement through traditional breeding techniques. It is what it is. The only way it can be changed is through spontaneous mutations and these are most likely to be variegated forms. Apart from the plain green, there is also ‘Panache’ which has cream/white-edges leaves. Much less common is ‘Luigi Leopold’ which has pale leaf centres and darker edges. 

None flower very often and that is a good thing in the garden because once planted the plant keeps on growing for many years. Perennial vegetables always sound a great idea but a lot of them are not in reality. Globe artichokes are easy but don’t actually produce much food (though I do like them) and Jerusalem artichokes are very easy to grow but hard to digest (I love the taste but they really don’t like me, despite my continued enthusiasm for them). But this one really is good. The trouble is that you can’t just start with a packet of seeds – you have to buy a plant. 

And if you want more of them you have to take cuttings. I have found that these root most readily from ‘heel cuttings’ with a piece of old stem at the base. I have read that the cuttings take up to three months to root but mine root in three weeks. As plants age and they flop, old stems on the soil will often root spontaneously. 

These cuttings were taken three week ago and are already well rooted and growing away well.

Plants seem to live for at least four or five years but they look pretty scruffy by that age. A minor issue with perennial kales is that they are, by definition, difficult to fit into a crop rotation system on the plot so they may be best in their own bed, perhaps next to the rhubarb or a comfrey patch. The variegated kinds are pretty enough to put in the flower bed. 

It is only my own experience but I have found them less likely to be attacked by pests than other brassicas. Mealy aphid can be an issue though and a real pain when they get into the growing points, making the new shoots useless to eat. Caterpillars seem far less likely to eat them and even slugs are less problematic, perhaps because the foliage is far from the ground – individual plants grow about 80cm high and wide. Squat cabbages and cauliflowers with leaves on the ground are magnets for slugs. Because of their height the leaves of this kale are easy to pick. 

What I can do is allay my, and your, initial thoughts that the reason why pests don’t attack them is because they taste awful! I pick individual leaves but more often shoot tips, which encourages branching. The leaves are tender, tasty and not at all bitter and really quite delicious – with some butter – and this is from someone who would rather eat cake than lentils (I do eat lentils – just I like cake more). Kale is rich in vitamins C, and A and K, both of which are fat-soluble so adding some butter actually helps you get all the nutrients! 

If you are used to buying pre-prepared kale in packs where they just chop up the leaves and leaf stalk so you get lots of woody, chewy lumps to deal with you will be amazed at how nice kale can be. These tender leaves do ‘cook down’ a lot so a panful becomes a manageable portion. If you like to put kale in a smoothie (I don’t) then it is perfect. 

The variegated forms are attractive and they grow well in sun or part shade. They are good enough to plant in the flower garden and my ‘Luigi Leopold’ have grown for two years in the border. Like all their kin, a heavy soil (like mine) is best and a limey soil (not like mine) is best. 

Of course it is all very well extolling the merits of a plant but pretty pointless if no one can actually grow it. I think that various kinds are available in most countries now, though they will need some finding on the ‘net’.  The plain green is sometimes sold, by even the major seed merchants, in the UK (for about £10 a plant) and the white-edged ‘Panache’ seems ‘relatively common’. If you do look for perennial kales online be suspicious of sellers listing seeds – they don’t produce seeds and if they did the plants would be likely to not be perennial. Be careful of prices too -there are some listing them for silly money. I think my ‘Luigi Leopold’ is the most difficult to find (originally from Cotswold Garden Flowers) so I am propagating lots of plants that I will sell at the gate this spring (for charity) so more people can experience the satisfaction of growing their own healthy kale and preserve the history of this amazing vegetable. 

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