Carol, I've grown purple sprouting broccoli. I got it in 6-packs from the nursery and iirc it was described as 120 or 150 days to maturity. I let a couple plants grow for 2 years or so, and they got huge, 4-6 ft. high and 3-4 ft. wide or more, with big floppy leaves. The trunks eventually got 2 inches in diameter. I love broccoli leaves, so at first I was happy to have this plant. But in my garden at least, I didn't get a main head, and the smaller heads that formed in the spring attracted the first flush of aphids. I was growing it in the shadier side of my garden plot and with compost, so perhaps with more sun or with fert it would have done better. In fact, I have seen it in other gardens where it was producing more. But mostly it was way too big for my garden space. I kept pulling out rooted stalks and giving them away, and cutting it to the ground, and it kept coming back stronger than ever.
Another one I've planted from a nursery 6-pack is peacock broccoli/kale. A couple plants (that are different, so maybe this wasn't stable) have survived 3 years, and I still get a small handful of side shoots every couple weeks or so in the warmer months. The more colorful one is very pretty, with light to medium green shoots and leaves tinged with magenta, and the leaves have divided edges, more like kale than broccoli. The side shoots are so tender that I just eat them as a garden snack, so I don't know how they are cooked. And I haven't found aphids on this one yet, but it's in a better (sunnier) spot.
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