Ornamental Kale and Cabbage

Brighten your winter garden with Ornamental Kales and Cabbages.  Their showy rosettes of foliage in shades of purple, blue, cream, green and rose resemble large flower blossoms.  They are cool season biennials, typically grown as cool season annuals in Fall through early Spring.  Similar in color, appearance, and size, growing to 18”x18”, they can be distinguished by their foliage. The varieties with serrated or ruffled leaf margins are considered flowering kale, while those with smooth leaf margins and broad, flat leaves are called flowering cabbage. 

Though as a biennial they can live for more than one season, the brilliant colors that are so prevalent in cooler season fade in the warmth of late spring and summer. The pigments are most fully displayed in chilly weather, developing intense, vivid colors below 50°F.   Most people treat them as annuals and will remove them from the garden as the colors fade.  When left to grow they can form bent, twisted, and arching stems that appear like drawings by Dr. Suess.   They are bred for their appearance not their flavor, which can be bitter.  Ornamental kale and cabbage are excellent planted in masses, swaths, in the front of borders, window boxes and in mixed containers.  

Plant in full sun to part shade in moist, well-drained, slightly acidic, loamy soil rich in organic matter.  Fertilize with a balanced fertilizer at the time of time of planting.  They tend to grow slowly so we recommend purchasing more mature sizes.