General Culture: Click for monthly care information.
Easily grown in organically rich, consistently moist, well-drained loams in full sun. Ornamental cabbage and kale are cool weather plants that need cool temperatures to produce best leaf colors. In St. Louis, they are best grown in the cool temperatures of fall, but may also be grown in early spring. If grown in summer, however, plants will need some afternoon shade, perhaps to survive, but the foliage will still fail to produce good leaf color. Plants generally grow poorly when daytime temperatures begin to consistently exceed 80 degrees F. Cultivars may often be grown from seed or plants may be purchased in cell packs from nurseries. For fall display, start seeds in mid-August in pots in part shade. Plants set in the ground in late summer will provide foliage well into fall including through several frosts. Depending on temperatures, plants may survive to Thanksgiving or into December in some years. Promptly remove any flower stems that may appear. Plants may also be grown in containers.
Noteworthy Characteristics:
Brassica oleracea (Capitata Group), commnonly known as cabbage, and Brassica oleracea (Acephala Group), commonly known as kale, are cool weather vegetables that are grown for harvest of their edible leaves. Cabbage forms heads and kale forms upright leaves. By contrast, ornamental cabbages and kales are grown as foliage plants for their intensely colored leaves rather than as vegetables. Ornamental plants were developed for ornamental use without regard to taste. Ornamental cabbage typically develops large rosettes of broad flat leaves and ornamental kale typically develops curly, ruffled leaves in a tight rosette. Leaf colors quite showy, ranging from white to cream, pink, rose, red and purple. These are biennials that are grown in St. Louis as annuals. Plants will grow to 18” tall. Plants need the cool weather of spring or fall to develop their best foliage color. As night temperatures drop during the fall, the leaf color typically darkens and intensifies. Cabbage and kale are in the same species as a number of other cool season vegetables including collards, brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, turnips and rutabagas, but these latter plants do not have colorful ornamental foliage.
Problems: Click for detailed list of pests and problems.
No serious insect or disease problems. Watch for Cabbage worms, cabbage loopers, caterpillars and aphids. Root maggots may be a problem in some areas. Leaf spots.
Uses:
Mass plantings. Border fronts. Edging. Containers. In fall, mix with chrysanthemums, grasses and asters.
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Garden, 2001-2010
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