Kale (with collard,cabbage,broccoli introgressions)

Here is one of the 2010 plants of my glossy kale /collards. It's descended from crosses of 'Green Glaze' collard with 'Dwarf Blue Scotch' kale and an ornamental red-purple "flowering" cabbage. The goal is to eventually combine the glossy trait with dark red-purple (anthocyanin) pigmentation which would theoretically give superior cabbageworm resistance. I've already witnessed the cabbageworms preference for blue-gray (glaucous) plants that still segregate out of these lines. Unfortunately the glossy trait makes the plants more attractive to flea beetles, hence all of the tiny holes in the leaves. Red-purple color has also been reported to deter cabbage butterflies from laying eggs on red cabbage. So, I hope to breed in some red cabbage in the near future. Spring 2010, I did some crosses of this glossy kale-lerd line onto on overwintered "Dinosaur" kale. The ultimate goal would be an insect resistant, locally adapted type that could be used for greens, then overwintered to provide a Spring broccoli crop too.