Where to buy seeds
Some links are affiliate links — Verdantly may earn a commission at no cost to you. Learn more.
Crimson Tide Mustard is a vibrant, ornately fringed mustard green that brings both visual drama and a pleasantly peppery bite to the garden. This heirloom, non-GMO annual thrives across hardiness zones 2 through 10, reaching 18 to 24 inches tall and ready to harvest in just 40 to 49 days. With purple and green leaves that deepen to dark purple in cool weather, it transforms from a baby leaf salad green into a striking garden statement. The thin green stalks are equally edible, making every part of the plant a culinary asset.
Full Sun
Moderate
2-10
24in H x ?in W
—
High
Hover over chart points for details
The leaves display an ornate fringe pattern in purple and green that intensifies when temperatures drop, creating a variety that's as beautiful on the plate as it is in the garden bed. Its peppery flavor walks the perfect line between mild and vibrant, avoiding the intensity of arugula while still delivering genuine mustard character and nutritional punch. Both the deeply cut leaves and tender stalks reward harvesting, making it exceptionally productive for a leaf green.
Crimson Tide excels as a baby leaf salad green, where its ornately fringed foliage and mild peppery character shine in mixed greens. The tender leaves can be harvested young for delicate salads or left to mature slightly for more assertive flavor in cooked dishes. The edible stalks add a crisp textural element when included whole or sliced into salads, extending the harvestable portion of the plant beyond what most gardeners expect from a mustard green.
No timeline data available yet for this variety.
Direct sow Crimson Tide Mustard seeds outdoors in your garden bed, spacing them to allow for mature plants at 6 inches apart in rows 18 inches wide. Sow in early spring as soon as soil can be worked, or in late summer for a fall crop that will benefit from cooling temperatures.
Begin harvesting Crimson Tide in 40 to 49 days from direct sowing. Pick leaves when they're young and tender for the mildest flavor and most delicate texture in salads, or allow them to mature slightly for more assertive mustard character. Harvest the outer leaves first, working toward the center, which encourages continued production. The thin green stalks are edible and worth harvesting along with the foliage. Cool-season growth deepens the purple coloration, so leaves harvested after a cold snap will display the most dramatic color.
Enter your ZIP code to see a personalized growing calendar for this plant.
“Crimson Tide Mustard carries the heirloom designation and open-pollinated status, meaning it breeds true from seed and represents a preserved lineage of mustard varieties. Its strong resemblance to Ruby Streak suggests kinship within a family of ornamental-meets-culinary mustards that have been selected and saved by gardeners for their dual appeal: visual beauty and genuine flavor. The variety exists as a result of generations of seed savers choosing plants for their distinctive purple coloring and refined leaf texture, perpetuating this particular expression of Brassica juncea.”