Malabar Spinach Basella alba

Basella alba, or Malabar Spinach, is a vigorous climbing vine, a frost-tender perennial grown as an annual, native to tropical regions in Asia. The plant typically grows to a six-foot vine, but can often reach 30 feet in length. The succulent leaves and stems are used as a vegetable, either raw in salads or cooked in soups, salads, stir-fry or as a pot herb for stews. As an ornamental, you can enjoy the glossy green leaves and red stems in ornamental plantings on posts, fences, hanging baskets or large containers.

Malabar Spinach requires a well-drained moisture-retentive soil rich in organic matter and a warm sunny sheltered position. It tolerates high rainfall and fairly poor soils but does much better in rich soils. Because the plant can grow rapidly, you should provide a sturdy trellis or fence for it to grow on that can do double duty as a decorative focal point in a bed or for screening. The colors of this plant pair well with beets, swiss chard, kale, ornamental kale, red and purple flowers. The plant is well-adapted to high temperatures, even into the 90s F., but growth is disappointing when temperatures stay below 80 F. This spinach will produce in weather too warm for other spinach varieties, but soil must be kept moist. It needs warm temperatures to germinate and will grow quickly once temperatures get hot. Scarify seed to hasten germination. In Zone 7 and warmer, direct seed 2 to 3 weeks after last frost date. It is very sensitive to frost and cool temperatures. It will root where the stems touch moist soil.

Diseases, Pests, and Other Plant Problems:

No known diseases or pests. Dry soil or extremely high temperatures will cause flowering, which leads to bitter leaves.