Plant Finder

Other Names:  Tuscan Kale, Black Leaf Kale, Black Cabbage

Description:

This heirloom variety has fantastic ornamental value, along with its culinary attributes; long, thick, pebbly textured leaves are a deep blue-green; can be massed in borders, or used as a container focal point; visually stunning and edible

Ornamental Features

Dinosaur Kale is primarily valued in the garden for its ornamental globe-shaped form. Its attractive large crinkled narrow leaves remain steel blue in color with pointy creamy white spines and tinges of bluish-green throughout the season.

Landscape Attributes

Dinosaur Kale is an herbaceous annual with a more or less rounded form. Its medium texture blends into the garden, but can always be balanced by a couple of finer or coarser plants for an effective composition.

This plant will require occasional maintenance and upkeep, and should not require much pruning, except when necessary, such as to remove dieback. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Dinosaur Kale is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Dinosaur Kale will grow to be about 24 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 24 inches. This fast-growing annual will normally live for one full growing season, needing replacement the following year.

This plant should only be grown in full sunlight. It requires an evenly moist well-drained soil for optimal growth, but will die in standing water. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in rich soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone over the growing season to conserve soil moisture. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

Dinosaur Kale is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. It can be used either as 'filler' or as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination, depending on the height and form of the other plants used in the container planting. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.