Purple Celery – Violet de Tours (Apium graveolens)

If you love the flavour of celery, you'll love this wonderful variety! Purple Celery has large, lush green leaves and slender to moderately thick stalks with subtle purple colouring. Rather than the thick, bland, crunchy stalks of grocery store celery, think of it as a large-leaved, large-stemmed parsley with a wonderfully intense celery flavour! Magali absolutely adores it and uses both the leaves and stalks in her cooking, adding delicious celery flavour to soups, stews, sauces and many other dishes.

We've also made an interesting discovery! Although celery is normally considered a biennial, our plants produced a much better harvest in their second year, most of which came after we harvested the ripe seeds, when the plants sent up fresh stalks and leaves! We're now exploring whether this variety can continue growing beyond its usual two-year life cycle.

Grow in full sun to partial shade in fertile, compost-rich soil with consistent moisture. Our celery grows quite well at the base of our wild black cherry tree, in what is actually a fairly shady spot. Harvest individual outer stalks and leaves as needed, allowing the centre to continue growing.

Start seeds indoors 10–12 weeks before the last spring frost. Sow on the surface or cover very lightly, keeping the soil moist during germination. Transplant outdoors after the danger of frost has passed, spacing plants approximately 20–30 cm apart.

At least 25 seeds per packet.