Old-Fashioned variety description
Slight variation in planting. One plant is a darker green color. Otherwise plants are relatively uniform with some slight variation in leaf undulation and glossiness. Leaves are ovate to spatulate in shape and have a wavy margin and lobed outline. One plant has high amount of bloom while the others have a moderate amount. Plants have a slight heading capability. Plants measure 16-23 inches tall and 27-40 inches wide. People thought this was either average or very good. Some described it as sweet and tender, while others said it was bland. You be the judge!
Old-Fashioned variety history
This family heirloom collard is from Marjoray Williams Shivar of Seven Springs, North Carolina. Marjoray is continuing a family tradition of seed saving that dates to at least 1885 when her great-grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Grady Barwick, saved collard seed that is the source of this current variety. Marjoray’s grandmother, Laura Frances Barwick Garris, and her mother, Julia Frances Garris Williams Edwards, were also seed savers of this collard. In 2004, Marjoray gave seeds to Dr. John Morgan, a cultural geographer and professor of geography at Emory & Henry College, who was collecting heirloom collard strains for preservation on behalf of the USDA Accession. Seed Savers Exchange requested this variety in 2016 from the USDA Accession collection (PI 662798).
Seed Status:
This variety is low quantity in the Seed Savers Exchange collection and is in need of regeneration. We are actively looking for more seed stewards willing to regenerate and steward this variety. Please get in touch if you are interested. Email collards@seedsavers.org.