Skip to Main Content

Freeport Gardening Guide: Okra

This is a how to guide to help anyone get started in gardening.

Okra

Okra Seeds, Alabama Red:

Description: A delicious heirloom from Alabama, this variety has fat, red-tinged pods that are great fried or in gumbo! One of our most popular varieties, it is unique and rare.

Alabama Red Okra with flower blooms

 

Okra Seeds, Bowling Red:

Description: Lovely plants that grow 7-8 feet tall and have deep red stems. The great-tasting pods are long and thin, being quite tender even when longer than most. This heirloom has been grown by the Bowling family of Virginia since at least the 1920s.

Bowling Red Okra halved with slices.

 

Okra Seeds, Burgundy:

Description: Very tender and delicious. Beautiful deep red pods and stems contrast nicely with green leaves. Ornamental and tasty! Developed by Clemson University in South Carolina and introduced in 1983.

Burgundy Okra with open flower.

 

Okra Seeds, Burmese:

Description: We are proud to offer this heirloom variety from Myanmar (Burma). Large pods are tender, spineless, and finely flavored. The plants start yielding early, and production lasts until frost.

Burmese Okra fresh from garden

 

Okra Seeds, Clemson Spineless:

Description: Plant is spineless, with tasty green pods that are best picked small. Developed in 1939. Still a standard in many home gardens.

Clemson Spineless Okra with bloomed flowers on purple background.

 

Okra Seeds, Eagle Pass:

Description: This highly flavorful okra variety hails from the Eagle Pass, Texas area and is a local favorite among farmers for its exceptional taste. The productive plants yield large, tender pods that are notably less slimy than other varieties, offering a delicious and enjoyable texture.

Eagle Pass Okra arranged with leaves and blooms on white background.

 

Okra Seeds, Heavy Hitter:

Description: Okra lovers rejoice! This is the most productive okra we have ever seen, with plants producing as much as 250 pods per plant in a season and 44 young, tender pods in a single day. This unbelievable heirloom was selected and perfected over decades by one dedicated farmer in Oklahoma. Dry Creek Farm owner Ron Cook received seeds of Clemson Spineless okra in 1972 from a local gardening friend who had saved her own seeds for decades. Once in his hands, Ron began to select for heavy productivity. After many years of improvement and selection, the Heavy Hitter stands to be one of the most productive okras of all time and with no compromise to flavor and texture. For those who love to grow a mess of okra, this is your variety. You can expect heavy crops of uniform pods, perfect for pickling and then savoring all season long!

Heavy Hitter Okra pods in ombre container.

 

Okra Seeds, Jing Orange:

Description: Our favorite okra! Lovely pods are a deep reddish-orange and are quite colorful. This Chinese variety produces lots of flavorful 6- to  8-inch pods early, even in dry conditions. An exciting new variety that is unique and beautiful.  One of the most tender we offer.

Jing Orang Okra with flowers.

 

Okra Seeds, Louisiana 16 Inch Long Pod:

Description: You can eat the pods of this truly impressive heirloom okra from Louisiana until they reach around 10 inches long, which is about 2 times as long as most okra varieties! Seasoned okra growers know how easy it is to miss a day of picking and find your plant covered in pods that are too tough to eat. With this variety, though, pods stay tender a little longer. The pale green pods are superbly tasty and tender. Plants are rugged and sturdy.

Louisiana 16 Inch Long Okra Pods

 

Okra Seeds, Nkruma Tenten:

Description: The famous “tree okra” of Ghana! Unique pods are tender and of a deep green color, sometimes tinged in red.  This prized variety  is superior to most okra from the Americas.   An exceptionally tall and delicious variety known to be long lived in its native range in Ghana, West Africa. The name literally translates to “tall okra,” and the plants can reach up to 12 feet tall. Solomon Amuzu, of Call to Permaculture Farm in Ghana, tells us this variety can live up to 15 or 20 years in the tropics if well maintained! Its flavorful leaves are widely used among the Akan, Ewe, Ga, and Fante people. The leaves have a wonderful spinach flavor when cooked in soups, stews, and curries. Plants produce dark green pods that are rich in mucilage. You can prune this variety to keep it shorter.  This historic variety can have a slight bit of variation in color and fruit shape, but is among the best we have tried in our Missouri gardens.

Nkruma Tenten Okra pods.