ENID, Okla. (KFOR) — Like a finger pointed from heaven, amidst all the growing things in a green Oklahoma summer, occasionally, a miracle occurs for no discernible reason.
“Anything I put in the ground,” boasts Shaunta Guyton. “It grows.”
She planted a couple of collard green seedlings in March, kept them watered, and guarded them against pests like the well camouflaged cabbage worm.
“I like to garden and I like to put plants down and take care of them,” she states. “I nurture things. I’m a good nurturer.”
A member of the cabbage family, cousin to Kale, brother to broccoli, collard greens tend to grow leafy but low to the ground.
There is a world record for height set in 2007 by a gardener in Florida.
He got his up over 13 feet by feeding the plant through a long tube.
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There are even stories about collard trees that once grew in the Canary Islands.
Guyton did some research, too.
“I’ve been Googling!” she insists.
She came up short of any Oklahoma record greens, so she staked a bold claim.
“I think I have at least the state record right now.”
Shaunta’s tall collard green might only stretch a little past 5 feet, but she’s putting it up against any other.
You would think Guyton’s greens would go into a cooking pot in her own kitchen, but she says she’s ruined too many servings.
“You have to really know what you’re doing to mess with collard greens,” she chuckles. “I’ve made some before, and they were gross.”
So she gives her daily pickings away to friends at work and to her lucky ducks at home.
Her plants still thrive.
They’re still producing healthy, nutritious greens good for ducks and chickens.
“My ducks tear it up,” she says.
Tallest in Oklahoma might be a reach, but so far, she’s the only one bold enough to make it in this little slice of Garfield County heaven.
If you have a collard green plant taller than 5 feet, Shaunta says she wants to hear about it.
Her Facebook page is open to competing claims, and you can find it by clicking here.
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