By Nik Crawley, founder of GardenTrack · Updated July 23, 2026
✓ In your garden
Ruby Red — also sold as Rhubarb Chard — is the crimson-stalked heirloom that makes a vegetable bed look like stained glass: deep candy-apple stems and red veins running out through dark, savoyed leaves, glowing when the low sun catches them. It's an old, easy, long-cutting green with a mild sweet-earthy flavor. The honest catches: that gorgeous red is water-soluble and bleeds into the pot when you cook it, and red-stemmed chard bolts sooner off cold than the white-stemmed workhorses, so you don't sow it as early.
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backlit red chard leaves glowing ruby, with vivid crimson veins radiating from red midribs — the stained-glass ornamental look of red-ribbed chard · Photo: August Geyler
(CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
· source
“An old crimson-ribbed heirloom chard that glows like stained glass in the bed — just know the red bleeds into the pot when you cook it, and it bolts faster than the white-stemmed workhorses if you rush it into cold spring soil.”
Days to maturity50–60 days~30 days for baby leaf
Stalksdeep crimson-redthe reddest-stemmed common chard
Leavesdark green, heavily savoyedred veins run out through the blade
Best seasonspring & fallcool-season; sow after frost
Ornamental glowStained glass 5/5
Deep crimson-to-candy-apple stalks and red veins in dark savoyed leaves — backlit by low sun it glows ruby-red, a genuine edible-ornamental that earns a spot in a flower border or container.
FlavorMild, sweet, earthy 4/5
Mild, sweet, and earthy with a faint raw bitterness that mellows once cooked. The red ribs carry a slightly more beet-like, earthy edge than mild white-stemmed chard — pleasant, and best from spring and fall leaves.
Color survives cooking?The red bleeds 2/5
The crimson is a betalain, water-soluble like a beet's — so boiling or long simmering leaches it into the water, can tint pale foods (potatoes, pasta, eggs) pink, and dulls the raw stalks to a murky brownish-red. Steam or quick-sauté to hold it.
Bolt & uniformityBolts sooner 2/5
Red-stemmed chard runs to seed more readily off a cold snap than white types (young plants can bolt after sustained nights in the low 50s°F), so don't sow the earliest spring dates. And as an heirloom, expect stem color and vigor to vary batch to batch rather than the lockstep of a hybrid.
A glowing ornamental-edible — you just sow it after frost and cook it fast to keep the color.
MildSweetEarthyFaintly bitter raw
✓ Glows like stained glass in the bed~ Sow after frost — it bolts off cold✗ The red bleeds out when boiled
Numbers from university growing guides. Ratings are our take, judged against all chards. Tap a meter to see why.
Growing basics — shared by every swiss chard
Ruby Red grows like any other swiss chard. The full picture — how deep to plant, spacing, feeding, pests, harvest — lives on the Swiss Chard page so it's maintained in one place.
Greenhouse or cover on: your start slides ~4 weeks earlier and your harvest stretches ~3 weeks later (shown striped).
Planting seeds straight in the ground only works where the season's long and warm — most gardeners start seeds indoors or buy young plants, or you'd pick your first tomato right as frost hits.
Comfortable — first ripe fruit lands around early May, well before your typical frost (~late Oct).
Start seeds indoors
early Mar – mid Mar
Toughen up outside
early Apr – mid Apr
Move plants outside
mid Apr – mid Apr
Plant seeds outside
mid Mar – late Mar
Growing
mid Apr – early May
Picking
early May until frost (~late Oct)
Typical dates for zone 6b — set your zone or ZIP above for yours.
Growing Ruby Red — the things that trip people up
Grow it for the crimson glow — it's a genuine edible-ornamental, gorgeous in a border or container and backlit by low sun. Harvest cut-and-come-again: take the outer leaves and it keeps pushing new growth from the center for months.
Don't rush it into cold soil. Red-stemmed chard bolts more readily off a cold snap than white types, so sow after frost danger passes rather than the earliest spring dates you'd give a Fordhook, and lean on spring and fall plantings.
Cook it fast to keep the red. The pigment is water-soluble (like its beet cousin), so boiling bleeds it out and can stain pale foods pink — steam or quick-sauté, and a splash of vinegar or lemon helps hold the color. Set your zone on the [chard page](/plants/chard-swiss/) to pin your dates.
From university growing guides (see Sources).
Where Ruby Red comes from
Red-stalked chard is ancient — Aristotle described a red-stemmed chard around 350 BC, and chard itself was developed from wild sea beet in the Mediterranean more than 2,000 years ago. (The 'Swiss' tag was just a 19th-century seed-catalog device to separate leaf-beet from the French spinach-beets.) The named red-ribbed heirloom sold as 'Ruby Red' or 'Rhubarb' traces to the 19th-century seed trade, with several seed houses citing an introduction around 1857. It's open-pollinated, not a hybrid.
One honest naming note: 'Ruby Red' and 'Rhubarb' are a muddle. Some seed houses sell them as the same thing; others treat them as separate strains (Rhubarb often deeper crimson and more savoyed, Ruby Red sometimes brighter and greener-leaved). Because it's an heirloom, expect stem color and bolt-resistance to vary a bit from packet to packet, not the uniformity of a hybrid.
Stained glass in the vegetable bed
The reason to grow Ruby Red is the color. It has the reddest stalks of the common chards — deep crimson to candy-apple — with those red veins fanning out through dark green, heavily savoyed leaves. Plant it where low morning or evening sun can backlight it and the whole plant glows ruby, which is why it earns a spot in a flower border or a container as readily as a veg row.
That crimson comes from betalain pigment — the same water-soluble compound that colors its beet cousin, carried here in the ribs and veins. It's a genuine two-for-one: a productive cut-and-come-again cooking green that also does real ornamental work.
close-up of a ruby chard leaf — a deep crimson-red midrib with red veins branching across a dark green, puckered blade · Photo: Ruth Hartnup
(CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
· source
The red bleeds when you cook it
Here's the catch that surprises people at the stove: the crimson doesn't stay put. Because betalains are water-soluble, boiling or long simmering leaches the red out into the cooking water, dulls the bright raw stalks to a murky brownish-red, and can tint pale foods — potatoes, pasta, eggs — a faint pink.
It's completely edible and still tastes good; you just lose the color you grew it for. To keep more of it, steam or quick-sauté rather than boil, add a splash of vinegar or lemon to the pan to help hold the pigment, and use the stalks raw or barely-cooked when the look matters. Expect some bleed regardless — it's the nature of the pigment.
Growing Ruby Red
It's a cool-season biennial grown as an annual for its leaves. Direct-sow about 1/2 inch deep after frost danger passes — and this is the key difference from white chard: because red strains bolt more readily off cold, don't give it the earliest spring dates you'd give a Fordhook. Each wrinkled 'seed' is really a cluster of several seeds, so thin the doubles to one plant every 6 inches, in rows about 12 inches apart.
Full sun to part shade, steady moisture, and rich soil keep the leaves tender and hold off bolting. Harvest cut-and-come-again — baby leaf from about 30 days, full leaves at 50–60 — taking the outer leaves to within a couple inches of the crown and letting the center regrow. A fall crop is often the sweetest, and young plants shrug off light frost; where summers are hot, lean on spring and fall and give afternoon shade.
What goes wrong — and the fixes
Leaf miners tunnel tan blotches between the leaf surfaces — damage you can't wash off. Pick and destroy mined leaves, float a row cover, and clear host weeds like lambsquarters. Cercospora leaf spot (tan spots with dark borders) shows up in warm, wet weather — rotate away from beets and chard, space for airflow, and avoid overhead watering.
Bolting — from a cold snap in spring or from summer heat. Sow after frost, keep it watered and mulched through heat, and succession-sow; once it bolts the leaves toughen and turn bitter, so start a fresh planting.
Faded color and pink-stained cookware come from long boiling — steam or quick-sauté instead. And chard, like spinach and beet greens, is high in oxalates, worth knowing if you eat large cooked quantities regularly.
In the kitchen
Use the two parts differently. Young leaves are good raw in salads; mature leaves cook like a sturdier spinach — sautéed, wilted, in soups, quiche, and pasta. The thick red stalks take longer than the leaves, so cook them separately: chopped and braised, steamed, or roasted, they eat like a mild cross of celery and beet.
If the crimson is the point on the plate, keep it raw or barely-cooked and finish fast — the color is the first thing to go in a long simmer. Grown cool and picked young, the flavor is mild, sweet, and earthy; summer heat is what pushes chard toward genuinely bitter, so the spring and fall leaves taste best.
Ruby Red swiss chard at a glance
Ruby Red Swiss Chard — at a glance
Type
Ruby
Days to ripe
59 days after you plant it outside
Color
Red
Extra fields from seed-catalog listings and university growing guides. Days to ripe and disease resistance shift with your climate and seed source — double-check with your local extension office before you buy.
Watch: growing Ruby Red
How to Grow Lots of Swiss Chard from Seed to Harvest · Daisy Creek Farms with Jag SinghSwiss Chard Growing Guide: Every Gardener Should Grow It · Growing In The Garden
Embedded from their creators on YouTube — full credit and views go to the channel.
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Common questions about Ruby Red
Is Ruby Red chard the same as Rhubarb Chard?
Usually, yes — many seed houses sell them as one variety ('Ruby Red or Rhubarb Chard'). Some treat them as separate strains, with Rhubarb often a deeper crimson and more savoyed and Ruby Red sometimes brighter and greener-leaved. Because it's an open-pollinated heirloom, expect some variation in color and vigor from packet to packet either way.
Why does my red chard lose its color when cooked?
The crimson is a betalain pigment — water-soluble, the same kind that colors beets — so boiling or long simmering leaches it into the water and dulls the stalks (and can tint pale foods pink). To keep more color, steam or quick-sauté instead of boiling, add a splash of vinegar or lemon, and use the stalks raw or barely-cooked when looks matter.
Does Ruby Red chard bolt easily?
More readily than white-stemmed types. Red-stemmed chard runs to seed off a cold snap, and young plants can bolt after sustained nights in the low 50s°F, so don't sow it as early in spring as you would a Fordhook Giant. Sow after frost danger passes, and lean on spring and fall plantings; once it bolts, the leaves toughen and turn bitter.
Can I eat the red stalks?
Yes — the thick crimson stalks are good eating, just cook them separately from the leaves because they take longer. Chopped and braised, steamed, or roasted, they taste like a mild cross of celery and beet. Cook them fast if you want to keep the red color, which fades in a long simmer.
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