How To Make 2025's Purple Plant Trend Work In Your Fall Garden

Purple is the usually the star of fall flower beds trends, but why not bring that color into your vegetable garden? Meet purple sprouting broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica 'Early Purple Sprouting'), 2025's trending veggie with a unique twist. Instead of the bulky head you're used to seeing in gardens or supermarkets, it shoots up skinny stems topped with purple florets that demand attention. And if you're looking for a new vegetable variety to harvest next spring, this one won't disappoint.

If you're hesitant about eating a purple vegetable, don't be; it actually does your body good. The florets owe their color to anthocyanins and antioxidants. These not only shield the plant by deterring insects and attracting birds who snack on garden pests, but they also bring a host of health benefits to anyone eating it — a win-win for your garden and your plate. With this plant, you get a two-for-one veggie: kale lovers get leafy greens, broccoli fans get florets, and if you love both, that's a bonus.

Purple sprouting broccoli belongs to the Brassicaceae family. Though Southern Italy gave it its first start as a cultivated crop, its roots trace back to the eastern Mediterranean and Central Asia. It can easily be mistaken for broccolini, a hybrid of broccoli and Chinese broccoli. The two look similar and are ready to harvest around the same time, so make sure you're planting the right crop. 

The first thing you'll need before diving into your garden to plant purple sprouting broccoli is patience — a lot of it. This tasty cold-hardy vegetable takes about 200 days to reach maturity. For best results, don't wait until late fall to plant. It loves a good chill; give it some frost, and it'll reward you with a bounty of tasty purple florets come early spring. Skip the cold, and all you'll get is one giant leafy show-off with hardly any sprouts. It does best in USDA hardiness zones 6 through 9.

Pick a sunny spot and prep the soil so it's rich, happy, and sitting between 6.0 and 7.5 pH. Mulch around the plants to keep moisture in and soil temperatures steady, and give them a light feed of fertilizer as they start to grow. These plants can really stretch, with common growth hitting 3 to 4 feet tall and spreading, so give each one some elbow room: 18 to 24 inches apart, with 24 to 36 inches between rows. If your garden gets windy or stormy, stakes can help keep them standing tall.

For a thriving fall garden, pair this colorful crop with companion vegetables like kale, cabbage, cauliflower, onions, beets, sage, thyme, cucumber, lettuce, and mint. Like many plants, purple sprouting broccoli isn't immune to trouble. Black rot can show up as yellow spots on the leaves that darken over time, but copper fungicide helps keep it in check. And just like regular broccoli, it attracts its share of pests, from cabbage worms to aphids and flea beetles, so give young seedlings some protection with a row cover.