Varieties of Ornamental Cabbage
There’s not much variety to choose from. Most seed packets are simply labeled (ornamental cabbage.) Always focus on the color combination that appeals to you when it comes to choose ornamental cabbage seeds.
Ornamental cabbage can be divided into:
(fringed-leaved cultivars) and (feather-leaved cultivars)
Fringed-leaved cultivars:
Fringed-leaved cultivars have ruffled leaves.
Feather-leaved cultivars:
Feather leaved cultivars have finely serrated leaves.
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Where do I get ornamental cabbage?
I always start my plants from seeds indoors, you can read my article: Starting ornamental cabbage indoors, or you can purchase transplants at your local garden center. When purchasing ornamental cabbage transplants, always look for large, compact plants that are fully colored. Generally, the plants will not get much bigger after they are planted in the garden, particularly if the roots are pot bound. Therefore, be sure to buy appropriate-sized plants for the location where they will be planted!
Ornamental Cabbage Facts List
- Common Name: Ornamental cabbage, ornamental kale
- Botanical Name: Brassica oleracea
- Family:Brassicaceae
- Native Area: Southern and Western Europe
- Plant Type: Annual or biennial
- Mature Size: 12–18 inches tall and wide
- Sun Exposure: Full sun. However, when grown in warmer climates, partial afternoon shade is ideal.
- Soil Type: Well-draining, rich loam soil
- Soil pH: Slightly acidic (5.5 to 6.5)
- Flower Color: Yellow
- Hardiness Zones: 2–11 (USDA)
Ornamental cabbage and ornamental kale are cool-season biennials. This means at the first year they grow their vegetative leaves and then send up flowers the second year, producing seeds before the plant dies. The most spectacular ornamental cabbage color is achieved if the plants experience cool, even cold conditions.
How to Grow Ornamental Cabbage
Ornamental cabbage and ornamental kale are easy to grow, these plants grow very much like their close relatives, the edible cabbages and kales, but these ornamental cultivars have been grown for their beautiful display looks, not flavor. To grow ornamental cabbage successfully, you need to wait until temperatures start cooling down. The plants need nighttime temperatures of below 60º Fahrenheit (15º Celcius) in order to develop their colors. The cooler weather helps to intensify the colors of the center rosettes.
If you have started ornamental cabbage indoors, to give your seedlings the best chance of success, it is best to ‘harden them off’. About 5 days before planting your seedlings outdoors, help acclimate them to temperatures, sunlight, and wind. This is the process of hardening off, or gradually acclimating your new plants to outdoor conditions. With proper hardening off, they’ll have an easier transition to the garden, and you will have strong and healthy ornamental cabbage plants.
- When transplanting seedlings in the garden, with a hand shovel loosen the soil, this can improve aeration and break up clods of soil that have stuck together.
- Well-drained, organically rich loam soil is the ideal. Ornamental cabbage and ornamental kale prefer a slightly acidic soil pH "5.5 to 6.5".
- Amend the soil by adding organic matters. I always add well-rotted chicken manure to the soil before planting the seedlings. Adding well-rotted chicken manure to your garden will increase its fertility and also improve soil structure.
- Ornamental cabbage plants prefer to grow in full sun. However, when grown in warmer climates, partial afternoon shade is ideal.
- Space ornamental cabbage seedlings at least 20 inches (50 cm) apart.
- Bury the root crown deep, because the head of ornamental cabbage can grow quite heavy.
- Water well after transplanting the seedlings.
- Keep the plants well-watered. Ornamental cabbage and kale, like soil that's consistently moist, but not soggy. When the soil is dry, it's time to water. If your climate provides regular rain, you probably won't have to water at all. But you must add supplemental water during a dry spell.
- Avoid overwatering, this will kill your plants!
- Ornamental cabbage and kale don't develop their full colors unless they get a good chill from a frost. They can last throughout the winter, but their appearance depends a lot on the weather. If you try to grow them in the heat of summer, the plants will bolt, and you may be disappointed by the speed with which they bolt and go to seed if, and if it's very wet, the plants will quickly become tattered. They can survive as long as temperatures remain above 5 °F.
- Humidity typically isn't an issue for ornamental cabbage plants. But if the weather is damp and the plants don't have good air circulation, the plants might develop fungal diseases, which usually appear as spots on the leaves.
- You can use a balanced fertilizer to fertilize ornamental cabbage and kale. Use only at planting and don't fertilize while they're growing, or they can lose color and get leggy!
Common Problems With Ornamental Cabbage Plants
Ornamental cabbage plants are essentially vegetables even they are used ornamentally, and thus they are susceptible to many of the common vegetable diseases and the pets that love to feed on leafy vegetables. The plants can have problems with cabbage worms and aphids.
However, because ornamental cabbage plants are typically grown late in the growing season, they usually have fewer problems with these pests than if they were grown earlier in the year.
How to Propagate Ornamental Cabbage
These biennial plants are generally discarded from the garden before the second season, as they will flower and produce seeds. When temperatures rise in the spring, and you allow the plants to remain in the garden, they will send up its seed stalk, which can reach 5 feet tall and produce seeds. Pick the small, pointed seed pods, called siliques, that develop along the flower stalk of your selected plants when they are light brown. Ornamental cabbage seed pods can only ripen on the stalk, don't pick green pods as their seeds aren't viable. Place the pods in a brown paper bag as you harvest them until you have as many as you need. Each pod contains from 12 to 20 seeds.
Store the seeds inside a paper envelope labeled with the seed variety. Store the envelopes in the freezer to maintain their quality. If stored properly, ornamental cabbage seeds should stay viable up to four years.
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Video to watch:
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Even frost spells will have no impact on ornamental cabbage plants, they will stay as beautiful as ever when the temperature drops below freezing!
Planting and growing ornamental cabbage in your landscape is a great way to add beautiful colors during the fall months.
Watch How to Star Ornamental Cabbage Indoors Video
If you have any tips for growing ornamental cabbage, we'd love to hear them - please share them in the comments below.
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