Ornamental cabbage and kale: Bitter but beautiful

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Growers are shipping fields of ornamental cabbages and kale to local nurseries and home centers this week. Cool weather is right around the corner, and although ornamental cabbages and kale are joining forces with the mums and pansies on the display tables, don’t buy them just yet. These ornamentals like cool weather, so planting them this week in eighty degree temperatures will allow them to be susceptible to cabbage worms, cutworms, aphids, and slugs.  After frost, the pests are outta here and it will be safe to plant. Another reason to hold off on buying them is because the beautiful textured purple and white leaves will not develop their true color until after the frost. They are cold-tolerant plants; and although they have no flowers, they will produce a colorful show when frost and cold weather arrive. The best color appears when temps are below 50 degrees. They can survive temperatures as low as 5 degrees, which keeps them thriving until November and December. So hold off on planting the ornamentals until temperatures start cooling down, then plant in a sunny location with rich soil. Both ornamental kale and cabbage like a slightly acidic soil with a pH of about 5.8 - 6.5.Plant them with the stem flush to the soil so that the lower leaves touch the ground and water. Let them dry out between waterings, but not too long, otherwise it will stress the plant. 

Basically, kale is a member of the cabbage family, although a little tougher and not as tasty, you can eat them. They are bitter when cooked, and the leaves turn into an unattractive grey color, so maybe you should stick to the garden when it comes to these beauties.  The other difference in the cabbages that we eat is that the ornamentals produce tight purple, white, pink, or red rosettes instead of cabbage heads.

Ornamental cabbage and kale are a great replacement for your summer annuals and they will be a long-lasting fall display. Use them with pumpkins, Indian corn, corn stalks, and bales of hay for outdoor fall decoration. You can also plant them in masses, in a single pot, or use them in the garden with traditional fall perennials such as mums and asters; or plant them with other cold-weather annuals like pansies.  

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More on Ornamental Kale

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-18980-Philadelphia-Gardening-Examiner~y2009m11d20-Kale-gone-wild

For a complete guide to fall-blooming plants and fall gardening, click here: