Broccoli is the best and tastiest vegetable you likely aren’t eating enough of. And if you are eating it, you’re not eating the best part—the stems! These are bold statements for me to make and mostly subjective, but chances are I am at least 90% correct when it comes to your eating habits. According to the National Institutes for Health, broccoli is an important source of fiber, Vitamins A, C and K, calcium, potassium, iron, antioxidants and bioactive compounds. Whew, that’s a lot to pack into these tightly packed florets.

The All-America Selections judges know what is good for you and what is good to grow in your garden. They’ve chosen two new varieties of broccoli as AAS Winners for 2024. Both go beyond your standard broccoli to give you something not just healthy and easy to grow, but also something visually interesting to grow in your gardens.

Broccoli Purple Magic

As you can tell from its name, Purple Magic is purple. It’s tightly packed florets add some interesting and somewhat rare color to the sea of green you normally see in a vegetable garden. And according to the judges, who grew this variety against competing varieties in trials gardens, Purple Magic is tolerant of heat and other stressors. If you think about broccoli, it excels in cool weather. But to have a fall harvest, you’ve got to plant it out in the heat of August. Being heat tolerant is key to producing the best fall crop.

If sow it from seed, Purple Magic takes about 100 days to harvest, or 90 days from transplanting. Look for heads to grow upward of 30 inches tall and 20 inches wide. That’s impressive for a broccoli!

Broccoli Skytree

This is what I was alluding to when I mentioned above that you aren’t eating the best part, which in my personal opinion are the stems. Skytree is a tall and very upright variety because its somewhat looser green heads of florets are held high on long stems. The long stems have two benefits: 1) it’s easier to cut this head from its base and 2) you can harvest more of the delectable stems.

If sowing seed, it’ll take about 85 days to harvest. If planting transplants, you can get this into your kitchen within 70 days. While plants reach a height of about 24 inches, it’s width is just 12 inches, so it’s a lanky character.

Again, these are cool-season crops. You could grow a quick spring crop by starting seeds indoors. I’d rather hold off for a fall harvest, which means I’m waiting until the beginning of August to sow my seeds or transplant. Either way, I’ll end up with a delicious harvest—and stems for days!