50 Purple Passion Asparagus Crowns – 2 Year Bare Root Plants for Zones 3-8

Overview

Embark on a rewarding gardening journey with our premium purple passion asparagus crowns. This unique and highly sought-after variety is celebrated for its distinctive deep purple color, remarkably sweet flavor, and exceptionally tender texture. Unlike green varieties, purple passion asparagus crowns offer a gourmet experience, making them a favorite among home gardeners and culinary enthusiasts. These are 2-year bare root plants, meaning they are dormant and ready for planting, providing a head start to establishing a productive and long-lasting asparagus patch. With proper care, these plants will yield abundant, flavorful spears for many years, transforming your garden into a source of fresh, vibrant produce.

The allure of purple passion asparagus crowns extends beyond their striking appearance. Their natural sweetness and nutty undertones make them a versatile ingredient in the kitchen, perfect for raw salads, grilling, roasting, or sautéing. As a perennial vegetable, asparagus is an excellent long-term investment for your garden, offering delicious harvests each spring. Our 2-year bare root plants are robust and well-developed, ensuring a higher success rate for establishment and quicker production compared to younger crowns or seeds. Prepare to enjoy the exquisite taste and visual appeal of this exceptional asparagus variety.

Key Benefits

Choosing to plant purple passion asparagus crowns brings a multitude of benefits to your garden and kitchen. This variety is not only visually stunning but also offers superior flavor and texture that discerning gardeners appreciate. Here are some of the key advantages:

• Exceptional Flavor Profile: Enjoy naturally sweet, tender spears with a subtle nutty flavor, making them superior for fresh eating and gourmet dishes. The sweetness of purple passion asparagus crowns is often noted as being higher than traditional green varieties.
• Vibrant Culinary Appeal: The striking deep purple color adds an elegant and unique touch to salads, stir-fries, and roasted vegetable platters, enhancing both taste and presentation.
• High Yield Potential: These 2-year bare root plants are known for reliable productivity once established, providing abundant harvests year after year with proper care.
• Perennial Longevity: Asparagus is a long-term investment, and these crowns will continue to produce for 15-20 years or more, offering a sustainable source of fresh vegetables.
• Robust Growth: Starting with asparagus bare root plants that are two years old ensures a stronger root system and faster establishment in your garden, accelerating the time to your first significant harvest.
• Versatile Cooking: While the purple color softens when cooked, the tender texture and sweet flavor remain excellent for a variety of culinary applications, from grilling to sautéing.
• Disease Resistance: This variety often exhibits good resistance to common asparagus diseases, contributing to healthier plants and more consistent yields.

Plant Care & Growing Tips

To ensure your purple passion asparagus crowns thrive and provide years of delicious harvests, proper planting and ongoing care are essential. Asparagus prefers a sunny location with at least 6-8 hours of direct sunlight per day. A well-drained soil is crucial, as asparagus roots are susceptible to rot in waterlogged conditions. Amend heavy clay soils with organic matter like compost or aged manure to improve drainage and fertility. The ideal soil pH for asparagus is between 6.5 and 7.0. Before planting your asparagus bare root plants, prepare a trench approximately 6-8 inches deep and 12 inches wide, mounding some soil in the center of the trench.

When planting, spread the roots of each crown over the soil mound in the trench, ensuring the crown is at the correct depth. Space individual crowns about 6-8 inches apart for optimal performance and air circulation, and rows 3-5 feet apart. Cover the crowns with 2-3 inches of soil, then gradually fill the trench as the spears grow throughout the first season. Water thoroughly after planting and maintain consistent moisture, especially during dry periods, but avoid overwatering. For growing purple asparagus, consistent moisture is more important in the first year to help establish the root system. Fertilize lightly with a balanced fertilizer in early spring and again after the last harvest.

Patience is key with asparagus; it typically takes about three years for a bed to become fully productive. During the first year, harvest sparingly or not at all to allow the plants to establish strong root systems. In subsequent years, you can harvest spears for 6-8 weeks in spring. Stop harvesting when the diameter of the spears decreases to pencil-thin, allowing the remaining spears to fern out and replenish the crown’s energy for the next season. Winter care involves cutting back the ferny growth after it dies back in late fall and applying a layer of mulch to protect the crowns from freezing temperatures. These 2 year asparagus crowns are already off to a great start, but consistent care will ensure their long-term success.

Size & Details

This offering includes 50 high-quality purple passion asparagus crowns, provided as 2-year bare root plants. Each crown is dormant and ready for planting, featuring a well-developed root system essential for vigorous growth and early establishment. These bare root plants are shipped without soil, carefully packaged to ensure their health upon arrival. Asparagus plants typically take about 3 years from planting crowns to reach full production, but these 2-year crowns give you a significant head start. Once established, individual plants can produce spears for 15-20 years or even longer. Expected spear size is medium to large, with a rich purple hue.

The mature asparagus ferns can reach heights of 4-6 feet during the growing season, providing ample foliage to nourish the crowns for the following year’s harvest. When planting, allow for 6-8 inches of spacing between each crown within the row, and 3-5 feet between rows to accommodate their mature size and facilitate harvesting. These 2 year asparagus crowns are an excellent investment for any gardener looking to cultivate a gourmet vegetable with a long productive life.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Q: How big do these asparagus plants get? A: While the spears are harvested when young, the ferny foliage of mature purple passion asparagus crowns can grow 4-6 feet tall during the summer months, providing energy for the following spring’s harvest.
• Q: Is this an indoor or outdoor plant? A: Asparagus is an outdoor perennial vegetable. These asparagus bare root plants are meant to be planted directly into your garden bed for long-term outdoor cultivation.
• Q: How much sunlight does purple passion asparagus need? A: For optimal growth and yield, growing purple asparagus requires full sun, meaning at least 6-8 hours of direct sunlight per day.
• Q: What condition will the asparagus crowns arrive in? A: Your 50 purple passion asparagus crowns will arrive as dormant, 2-year bare root plants, carefully packaged without soil, ready for immediate planting upon arrival.
• Q: What’s the best time to plant these asparagus crowns? A: The best time for planting 2 year asparagus crowns is in early spring, as soon as the soil can be worked.
• Q: When can I expect to harvest the spears? A: While you might get a very light harvest in the second year after planting, a significant harvest from these purple passion asparagus crowns is typically expected in the third year.
• Q: Will these asparagus crowns survive winter in my zone? A: Yes, purple passion asparagus crowns are hardy in USDA Zones 3-8, meaning they are well-suited to survive cold winters and re-emerge in spring in a wide range of climates.
• Q: What type of soil is best for growing purple asparagus? A: Well-drained, fertile soil with a pH between 6.5 and 7.0 is ideal for successful growing purple asparagus. Avoid heavy, waterlogged soils.
• Q: Is it difficult to care for purple passion asparagus? A: While asparagus requires initial bed preparation and patience, once established, it is relatively low-maintenance. Following basic care guidelines for watering and fertilization will ensure a healthy bed of sweet asparagus spears.
• Q: Can I use these purple asparagus spears in cooking? A: Absolutely! These sweet asparagus spears are excellent for fresh eating, grilling, roasting, sautéing, or adding to salads. The purple color may soften when cooked, but the flavor remains superb.