Twelve "spinach" cultivars are sourced for NZ temperate gardens, and exactly half of them aren't true spinach at all. Real spinach bolts once the weather turns hot, and most of the other six — from a tropical vine to a plant that's actually closer to silverbeet — are heat-lovers that fill the gap it leaves in summer. Knowing which half you're buying matters more here than for most crops on this site.
True Spinach
| Variety | Supplier | Best season | Notable for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santana F1 | Kings Seeds NZ | Year-round | Slow to bolt, resistant to some strains of downy mildew |
| Summer Solstice F1 | Kings Seeds NZ | Summer | Slow-growing European type bred specifically for warm months |
| Bloomsdale | Kings Seeds NZ | Spring & autumn | Good vigour in the cool, tolerates some warmth |
| Winter Giant | Kings Seeds NZ | Autumn & winter | Leaves thicken as the temperature drops |
| Winter Upright F1 | Kings Seeds NZ | Winter | Resistant to some downy mildew races, strong anthracnose tolerance |
| Japanese (AKA Lands End) | Koanga Institute | Spring & autumn | Rare NZ heritage line, taller with larger, less crinkled leaves |
Spinach in Name Only
| Variety | Supplier | What it actually is | Notable for |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Zealand | Kings Seeds NZ | A different, unrelated plant sold as "NZ spinach" | Heat-tolerant, trailing habit |
| Preservation Pack (NZ Spinach) | Koanga Institute | Same NZ spinach plant as above | Perennial grown as a tender annual |
| Malabar | Kings Seeds NZ | A tropical climbing vine | Heat-loving, highly frost-sensitive, needs a climbing support |
| Water Bamboo Leaf | Kings Seeds NZ | Water spinach / kangkong, grown in water | Tropical, grows in moist soil or shallow water |
| Beet Perpetual | Kings Seeds NZ | A beet relative, described as offering a "spinach-like leaf" | Cold-hardy, rarely runs to seed before its second year |
| Strawberry | Kings Seeds NZ | A 400-year-old heirloom grown for its berries | Edible red berries alongside spinach-like leaves |
The Real Spinach, for the Cool Months
Santana F1 is the most flexible of the true spinach here — Kings Seeds NZ rates it slow to bolt and suitable for year-round cultivation, with resistance to some strains of downy mildew backed by named pathotype data in its own listing. Bloomsdale and the Koanga-sourced Japanese (AKA Lands End) — a rare heritage line traced back through the Harrington Collection in Southland — both suit the milder shoulder seasons rather than deep winter or full summer heat. For the cold end of the calendar, Winter Giant's leaves thicken as temperatures drop and it's sown in autumn specifically for that cold-weather performance, while Winter Upright F1 goes further — bred with good vigour for growing through the winter months, and adding resistance to some downy mildew races plus strong field tolerance to anthracnose. If bolting has already been a problem in your garden, see Why Is My Spinach Bolting Straight Away in NZ Temperate? for the full diagnosis before assuming a slow-to-bolt cultivar alone will fix it.
The Stand-Ins, for When Real Spinach Would Bolt
Summer Solstice F1 is the one true spinach on this list actually bred for summer — a slower-growing European type Kings Seeds NZ says is "perfect for growing through the warmer summer months," which makes it the exception to real spinach's usual heat problem rather than a substitute crop. The genuine substitutes are the other five: New Zealand and Koanga's Preservation Pack are the same NZ spinach plant under different names — a different plant sold under the spinach name, not a cultivar of true spinach, and both explicitly heat-tolerant. Malabar goes further into heat-loving territory as a genuine tropical climbing vine, needing a support and warned as highly frost-sensitive — the opposite tolerance profile from the true spinach above. Water Bamboo Leaf is water spinach (kangkong), a warm-season crop grown in moist soil or shallow water rather than a garden bed proper. Beet Perpetual is the odd one out in this group — cold-hardy rather than heat-loving, and its own name and description ("offers a spinach-like leaf") both signal it's a beet relative rather than spinach itself; if a beet-family leaf crop is genuinely what you're after, see Growing Silverbeet Year-Round in NZ for the closest published match on this site. Strawberry is grown as much for its edible red berries as its leaves, a genuine heirloom novelty rather than a heat-driven choice.
Planting for This Zone
True spinach shares one Egmont-sourced window across this zone: sow September to February, harvest November to April, roughly 50–70 days from sowing to harvest, with succession sowing recommended for a continuous supply rather than one large flush. The plant's real limit isn't frost — it's hardy — it's heat, which is exactly why the "spinach in name only" half of this list exists: sowing a heat-tolerant substitute through the hottest stretch of the window, and switching back to true spinach cultivars like Bloomsdale or Winter Giant either side of it, keeps a continuous supply going through the whole season rather than losing the middle of summer to bolting.
Ready to plan the rest of your garden? Check the NZ Temperate Planting Calendar →.