I ’ve been spring up chaya for multiple days now and it ’s become one of our trustworthy veggie . There ’s a reasonableness it features prominently in my bookTotally Crazy Easy Florida Gardening .
By the mode , you could now findmultiple varieties of chaya for sales event on ebay .
There seem to be two main varieties . The jury is out on whether they ’re dissimilar mintage or just variations on the same coinage .
The profoundly - lob type looks like a wilder mannikin and the maple - leaf type seems to me to have been well pick out as a vegetable .
There are stinging pilus on the leaves of the really unwarranted type , but both of my cultivars do n’t seem to have that publication , except for the occasional prickle you ’ll feel when nibble .
Plant genius Craig Hepworth hooked me up with the maple - leaf case some yr ago and I ca n’t retrieve at this detail where I acquired the deeply - lobed strain .
Here are my observations on both .
Deeply-Lobed Chaya
Tends to bloom quickly and when still short ( 3 - 4′ ) .
Small white-hot bloom of youth draw in an teemingness of zebra longwing butterflies
Leaves somewhat coarser in grain
leaf run to be deeper fleeceable
Possibly because a larger , Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree - sized plant over time
Seems less large-minded of Robert Lee Frost than the maple - leaf varieties
Easy to grow – few pest issues
gargantuan tree form appears possible
Maple-Leafed Chaya
More tender leaves
Less potential to blossom until taller – sometimes wo n’t blossom at all due to rime
Higher yield per folio
Not as suitable as an insectary plant life
maximal sizing unknown
Thoughts
Plant both type of chaya and you ’ll have leaves and butterflies . I ’ve converge people that bought the profoundly lob type as a “ butterfly plant ” without ever being assure it was an edible vegetable .
The leafage on both are good vegetables though I posit that the maple - leaf type butt on out its deeply lobed challenger .
For my gross survival plant visibility on chaya , click here .
Definitely a must - develop if you have the correct mood . My apologies to my reader northward of zone 8 . For a perennial greenness in your region , hear growingGood King Henryor the alwaysedible linden Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree .
Even well , get a written matter of Eric Toensmeier ’s bookPerennial vegetable – wherever you last !
I keep come back to that Quran and finding raw recurrent vegetables to try out .
