Which Swiss Chard Varieties Are Worth Growing?

Swiss chard varieties differ in stem colour, leaf size, bolt resistance, cold hardiness, and cropping period. Choosing the right variety for your purpose—whether that is maximum yield, ornamental impact, flavour, or winter production—makes a noticeable difference to your growing experience. Here is an honest assessment of the varieties most commonly available and most useful to home growers.

Fordhook Giant: The Reliable Workhorse

Fordhook Giant is the variety most experienced growers reach for first. It produces very large, heavily crinkled dark green leaves with wide white stems, and is one of the most bolt-resistant varieties available. It performs reliably across a wide range of conditions, tolerates both heat and cold well, and produces heavily over a long season. If you want the highest volume of good quality, neutral-flavoured leaves for cooking, Fordhook Giant is the natural first choice.

Bright Lights: Ornamental and Productive

Bright Lights is a multi-coloured seed mix producing plants with stems in yellow, orange, red, pink, white, and purple. Beyond its visual impact—it is genuinely stunning in the garden—it is a strong performer with good bolt resistance and a long cropping period. The flavour is similar across colours but the visual variety makes it particularly appealing for containers and ornamental kitchen gardens. Widely available and reliably popular for good reason.

Ruby Chard: Deep Red Stems for the Kitchen

Ruby Chard produces the deepest crimson-red stems and red-tinged green leaves in the single-colour range. It is slightly less vigorous than Fordhook Giant but makes up for this with striking visual impact both in the garden and on the plate. The red colour fades somewhat when cooked but remains vibrant raw in salads. Slightly less bolt-resistant than Fordhook; better suited to cooler-season growing or as a quick crop for baby leaf harvest.

Lucullus: Best for Mild Flavour

Lucullus is a heritage variety with pale green, crinkled leaves and white stems. It is valued for its mild, delicate flavour—less earthy and mineral than some other varieties—which makes it ideal for raw use and for dishes where you want a subtler leafy presence. It is not the heaviest yielder but produces consistently and tolerates cold well, making it a good autumn and early winter variety.

Perpetual Spinach: Related but Different

Often grouped with swiss chard, Perpetual Spinach (Beta vulgaris var. cicla) is technically a chard type but with smaller, more spinach-like leaves and thin stems. It is exceptionally bolt-resistant—one of the most reliable of all leafy crops for this characteristic—and is extremely hardy through winter. The flavour is milder and less robust than true swiss chard. It is worth growing alongside standard chard varieties to extend your harvest window into and through winter reliably.