Beet
Growth habit
Herbaceous
Perennation
Annual
Biocultural value
Rich in vitamins and minerals, young tender leaves can be eaten raw in salads. Older leaves can be cooked like spinach.
Location
Source of plant
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
Description
'Bull's Blood' is an heirloom beet that is primarily grown today for its dark purplish-red leaves that make excellent additions to salads. Its tasty roots can also be enjoyed. 'Bull's Blood' is also often grown in beds, borders and containers solely for the ornamental effects of its foliage. It typically forms a dense rosette of metallic, dark purplish-red leaves that grow in a clump to 18" tall. Foliage provides excellent contrast with other garden plants. Young, tender leaves make excellent and colorful additions to salads and have many other culinary uses including use as a spinach substitute. Beets are best dug and harvested when 2-3" in diameter. When cut in cross section, each beet shows attractive white zoning rings. Non-showy, greenish flowers (sometimes tinged red) appear in dense spikes. In Sweden, red food coloring may be legally produced only from this cultivar.
USDA Hardiness Zone
5
Special characteristics
food