Lacinato Kale

8Reviews
SKU: 0623A
$3.95 to $9.29

Item Details

(aka Dinosaur, Nero di Toscana) Italian kale which reportedly dates back to the 18th century. Blue-green strap-like leaves are 3" wide by 10-18" long with a heavily savoyed texture. Excellent flavor that is enhanced by frost. Best eaten when leaves are small and tender.


  • 62 days from transplant
  • Organic
  • Deep blue savoyed leaves
  • Leaves grow to 3 inches wide by 18 inches long
  • Best eaten when leaves are 8-10 inches
  • Excellent flavor is enhanced by frost

This variety works for:

  • Steaming
  • Stir-fries
  • Baking
  • Soups
  • Freezing


Kale can be prepared just like spinach and steamed, blanched, or braised. It is exceptionally good with garlic and can be added to thick and creamy potato, bean, or sausage soups.


Try adding cooked kale to roasted sweet potato dishes or tossing with pomegranate seeds, pine nuts, and pancetta in a citrus-vinegar dressing.

Growing Instructions

Instructions - Sow seeds indoors ¼" deep. Plant out just before the last frost. Kale is most tender and delicious after a frost. Harvest can continue even after snow.

  • Start Indoors: 6-8 weeks before last frost
  • Germination: 3-10 Days
  • Plant Outdoors: 24” Apart
  • Light: Full Sun

Ratings & Reviews

8 reviews

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Great plant

by

This is a delicious kale, and hardy. We harvested off the plants even after snow fall this year! Definitely will buy again!

Slow to get going after transplant but then it's a winner!

by

Great kale. I planted from seed indoors and transplanted through woven ground cover into the soil. I will say they took a long time to establish themselves as looking healthy after the transplant even with having them under a floating row cover. However, they finally "put down roots" in their new home (the soil) and have been hardy and excellent producers. I clip a good portion of the leaves off of each plant and they just keep growing. The leaves are excellent and seem to be very insect resistant even in this drought year of which insects are really doing damage to other vegetables we're growing. I like to steam/blanch the leaves and then freeze them. They're superb that way in smoothies. Blanching them before using/freezing them that way eliminates the brassica flavor. I will definitely be growing this every season in my garden.

Best greens in the garden

by

Beautiful dark blue green leaves, bug resistant. I started several in Feb, planted out in April and they grew to gorgeous 3-4' plants. They survived our epic 118F heatwave and are still looking healthy after several hard frosts in Nov. The leaves are a cool texture, water beads off of them after the rain. I harvest leaves from the bottom of the stem up, so they look a bit like palm trees now. Leaves freeze well, hold the base of the stem and push the greens off the rib to strip. Blanch for 30 seconds in boiling water, or stir fry to heat, then freeze.

Excellent

by

Have grown this for years in Zone 5 Omaha, NE. I harvest it all season. Has good substance without the prickly edges. It's great in soups and stews and even sauteed. Looking for more ways to use it. A super food.

Still alive in December. Good taste.

by

Still alive in December uncovered. Leaves are a little waxy and don’t taste as good as red Russian, but I’ll take kale in December.

Productive and tolerates poor conditions

by

Very hardy and robust plant. Was able to grow passably in part shade conditions. Tolerated a shallow pot. Poor conditions appeared to only affect its rate of growth, but not its health.

My favorite kale; easy to grow!

by

This is the easiest kale to grow. I grow this in my cattle panel greenhouse in zone 6b, high desert. It is slow to bolt and very fast to grow. I direct sow mine in the spring and will again in the fall for a late (winter) harvest. It's delicious in a sauté of garlic and ghee, or mixed into my breakfast smoothies. It's not woody or tough; tender enough to eat right out of the greenhouse. My kids snack on it freshly-picked. Mild flavor with a deep, rich color.

Lived for 4 years

by

Planted these one time and since they didn't appear to be dying just slowing down, I didn't pull them up. Left them alone and they survived Puget Sound Winter and just kept growing. Finally died after 4 years. I had let them go to seed and the flowers are beautiful, smell wonderful, pollinators love them and the plants don't die after flowering and producing seed. I still will get an occasional volunteer plant but I think the birds got most of them I should have collected and saved some.