Can You Eat Decorative Cabbage?

Ornamental cabbages and kales are prized for their brightly colored foliage.

Susan Mahr, UW Horticulture
Revised: five/11/2010
Item number: XHT1163

What are ornamental cabbage and kale? Ornamental cabbage and kale (also known as "flowering" cabbage and kale) are in the aforementioned species (Brassica oleracea) as edible cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower. While ornamental cabbage and kale are edible, they tend to have a bitter flavor and are oftentimes used in a culinary setting as garnishes. Ornamental cabbage and kale are prized primarily as colorful additions to home gardens where they are grown for their large rosettes of white, pink, majestic or red leaves. Technically, ornamental cabbage and kale are all kales (kales produce leaves in a tight rosettes; cabbages produce heads). Just in the horticultural trade, ornamental kale is the term used for types with deeply-cutting, curly, frilly or ruffled leaves. Ornamental cabbage is the term used for types with broad, flat leaves that are edged in a contrasting color. Ornamental cabbage and kale grow approximately one foot broad and fifteen inches tall. In that location are many cultivars that are commercially available.

•The 'Chidori' series has mounded kale types with royal foliage, extremely curly leaf margins and foam white or deep magenta centers.
•The 'Color Upward' series has cabbage types with upright, columnar growth habits and dark-green leaves with colored centers in white, blush pink or fuchsia.
•The 'Nagoya' series has round kale types with heavily crinkled leaves and tight rosette centers that range in colour from fuchsia pinkish to lavender to yellow green to creamy white.
•The 'Osaka' series has fast-growing, meaty cabbage types with blue-green, semi-waved leaves with pink, red, or white centers.
•The 'Peacock' series has meaty hybrids with deeply serrated, feathery cherry or white leaves.
•The 'Pigeon' series has flattened cabbage types with ruby or white centers.
•The 'Tokyo' series has nearly perfectly round cabbage types with polish, bluish-greenish outer leaves and soft pink, blood-red, or white centers.

Where do I go ornamental cabbage and kale? Ornamental cabbages and kales do non tolerate summer heat, so y'all need to kickoff plants from seed in mid-summer, or purchase transplants at your local garden center. Sow seeds about six to 10 weeks earlier the expected date of the showtime frost in your surface area. Seeds must be sown and young plants kept under cool conditions to thrive. In virtually climates, this means plants should be started in a greenhouse where the temperature can be controlled. Alternatively, you can place pots with seeds in a refrigerator for several days to encourage germination. In cooler climates, sowing seeds directly in the garden may be possible. Ornamental cabbage and kale seeds require light for germination, so seeds should not be covered with soil.

When purchasing ornamental cabbage or kale transplants, look for large, meaty plants that are nearly or fully colored. Plants will mostly not get much bigger after they are planted in the garden, particularly if the roots are pot spring. Therefore, be sure to buy advisable-sized plants for the location where they will exist used (even though bigger plants will price more). How exercise I abound ornamental cabbage and kale@f1 Look until temperatures start cooling down, then plant ornamental cabbage and kale in a sunny location in a moderately moist, rich soil. Bury stems so that the lowest leaves of the plants are affluent with the soil surface. After planting, continue the plants well watered. Until cool conditions arrives, plants won't accept much color. White, pink, or ruddy pigments will begin to develop when temperatures dip below 50°F. Once acclimated in a site, ornamental cabbages and kale can survive temperatures as low as five°F, so plants may last well into November and Dec.

Ornamental cabbage and kale can have issues with cabbage worms (come across University of Wisconsin Garden Facts XHT1029, XHT1031 and XHT1032), cutworms (see Academy of Wisconsin Garden Facts XHT1030), aphids (see University of Wisconsin Garden Facts XHT1043), and slugs (come across Academy of Wisconsin Garden Facts XHT1040). However, because ornamental cabbage and kale are typically grown belatedly in the growing flavor, they commonly have fewer problems with these pests than if they were grown earlier in the year.

How do I employ ornamental cabbage and kale nearly effectively in my garden@f2 Ornamental cabbage and kale are great for replacing worn out summer annuals for a long-lasting fall display. Effort to position plants to best expose their colorful centers. Use them in mass plantings, in mixed or single container plantings, and as edgings. They expect beautiful in the front of a border, especially when combined with perennials that are at their height in the autumn, such equally little bluestem grass (Schizacrium scoparium), tall, dark-leaved sedums (Sedum spp.) or asters (Aster spp.). For an like shooting fish in a barrel and attractive container planting, place an ornamental cabbage or kale in the center of a container and environment it with pansies. Or try them with other plants that can tolerate light frosts [e.g., Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris var. cicla), snapdragons (Antirrhinum spp.), petunias (Petunia spp.), or chrysanthemums (Chrysanthemum spp.).

Equally noted higher up, ornamental cabbage and kale are edible. To reduce their bitter taste, boil them, discard the water, then either eddy them once more or sauté them in olive oil prior to serving.