Miss Annie Pearl Counselman

COLLARD

Homegrown Seeds from Members

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Iowa Member

Available: Yes

Sweet, good texture and flavor without sharp brassica taste. Open growth habit. Straight to slightly drooping leaves. Slight to moderate variability in population. Color of leaves ranges from green to blue-green with bloom; plant form ranges from erect to spreading. Low leaf blistering. Plants measure 1.6-2.4' tall and 2.0-3.3' in diameter. Largest leaves measure 1.6-2' long and 8.6-12.2" wide. In 2012, Tom Lambard met Annie Pearl Counselman, a 94-year old gardener in Clarke County, Alabama, who shared seeds of this heirloom variety with him. Annie Pearl received the collard sometime in the early 1950s while she and her husband were living in the New Prospect community. At that time, their Baptist church had recently gotten a new preacher named Brother Tyson. When the preacher’s wife came to visit Annie Pearl, she brought some collard seeds to share and Annie Pearl has been growing and saving them ever since. Tom Lambard originally grew up in Clarke County and has always had an interest in gardening and heirloom seeds. Now living in Mobile, AL, Tom donated this variety to Seed Savers Exchange in 2015. He requested that the collard be named ‘Miss Annie Pearl Counselman’ because as he says, “after 60 something years, I think that’s what they are.” SSE Accession # 132863