Lactuca sativa. 28 days for baby leaf, 60 days full grown. Before grocery stores standardized lettuce into pale green sameness, gardeners in 19th century France were growing Rouge d'Hiver Lettuce, a striking heirloom whose name translates to “Red of Winter.” First documented in French seed catalogs in the 1800s and later listed in Vilmorin’s famous The Vegetable Garden in 1885, Rouge d’Hiver became treasured for its cold tolerance, buttery flavor, and jewel-toned leaves.

More than a century later, it still grows the same way it did in old European kitchen gardens: bronze-red leaves unfolding around a tender green heart, thriving in cool weather when most lettuces fade. Harvest it young at 28 days for colorful baby greens, or let it mature into a full, beautiful head worthy of an old French market table.