Ornamental cabbage: description, varieties, cultivation and care, reviews

Ornamental cabbage is no different in care from a regular table crop and can be eaten. Its main feature is bright, unusually colored leaves and rosettes resembling large flowers or ornamental trees. You can learn more about the varieties and methods of growing ornamental cabbage from this article.

Decorative cabbage

Ornamental cabbage is a biennial plant

Ornamental cabbage blooms until frost

Botanical description

Ornamental cabbage is classified as headless cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. Acephala), also called Brassica. Belongs to the cruciferous family. Biennial plant. In the first year, the leaves develop, forming a loose head or rosette; in the second year, the plant blooms and bears fruit.

The shape of ornamental cabbage leaves can be:

solid and flat;
pinnately dissected;
corrugated;
with fringed edge;
with a curly edge.

The plant acquires the following colors:

green on the lower leaves and white on the central ones;
green on the lower ones and red-purple on the central ones;
bright outer edge of the leaf and green in its central part;
purple, pink, white central part and green edge of leaves;
multi-colored leaves with contrasting veins.

The plant acquires a bright color when the temperature drops below +10 °C.

Cabbage can “bloom” in open ground until frosts of -12 °C, and after being moved to an unheated room - until mid-winter.

Plant characteristics

Some varieties of garden cabbage (Brassica oleracea) with colored (red, pink, white) inner leaves and green outer ones are called ornamental. Its variegated straight or openwork leaves, enclosed in rosettes, resemble flowers. Wild forms originate from the Atlantic coast of Europe. They are biennial, less often annual, with slightly woody shoots. The plants are edible, but most often they are not used for food, but are planted for decorative purposes.

Although usually just a garden or patio decoration, it is an edible plant with many valuable properties. It contains a lot of vitamin C. It is also a low-calorie vegetable, ideal as an ingredient in a weight loss diet. It also contains a large amount of sulfur, which has a positive effect on the skin, hair, and nails.

This cabbage is not decorative all year round. In spring and summer it resembles ordinary cabbage. But in late autumn, or even winter, the plants will add color to the grayish garden at this time, which glows with voids. Multicolor cabbage varieties can be grown in pots and soil.

As the days get shorter and the nights cooler, the cabbage begins to produce its first colored leaves. They usually begin to color in September when temperatures drop below 15°C. It is then that the real festival of colors begins, the inner leaves differ in color from the outer ones. Often several flowers may appear on one plant at once.

Among the many varieties, there are options with curly, curly, lacy, serrated or completely smooth leaves. They also vary in color: they are violet, purple, white, cream. Popular varieties grow to sizes of 30 × 30 cm or up to 50 cm in diameter and 25-40 cm in height.

Photo. Varieties with curly and smooth leaves

Historical data

Ancient Greece is considered the historical homeland of this type of cabbage. Here there was a special attitude towards the plant, since it was believed that the growth of the vegetable was provoked by drops of sweat from the god Jupiter.

Japanese breeders have made a lot of improvements in the variety of appearance of ornamental plants. Already in the middle of the 18th century, more than 200 varieties were bred here. Unusual-looking cabbage decorated the gardens of wealthy Japanese. Ornamental cabbage is widespread in European countries. In our country, it is just beginning to gain the attention of gardeners.

History of the origin of brassica

The ancestor of modern ornamental cabbage is wild cabbage with smooth and curly leaves , known in Greece since the 4th century BC. e. The ancient Romans highly valued cabbage as an excellent remedy.

Over time, more and more different forms and colors of cabbage began to appear in Europe. The Japanese were the first to pay attention to the decorative properties of cabbage. They began to select new varieties of brassica to decorate their gardens. Nowadays, interest in the aesthetic properties of ornamental cabbage is growing everywhere.

Where is it used and can it be eaten?

Ornamental cabbage is used in landscape design.

It can be planted:

as part of compositions with flower plants - they form a contrasting spot against the background of other flowers and tall plants;
as living borders - planted along paths and enclosing flower beds;
in flowerpots and hanging flower pots – you can grow both individual plants and groups;
as a single plant - completely plant the space with only ornamental cabbage;
as part of compositions from different varieties - creating multi-colored patterns;
in alpine slides - you can use both high and low varieties.

You can create original bouquets from Brassica. To do this, it is cut off at the root and placed in a vase with a small amount of water. To make the bouquet last longer, add a few crystals of potassium permanganate or 1 tsp to the water. sugar and a pinch of salt per 1 liter of water. Change the water 2 times a week, and the bouquet will last about a month.

In floristry, decorative cabbage is used to create vegetable bouquets.

Most often, ornamental cabbage was grown as a fodder plant, but it is quite edible, like cabbage or cauliflower. The leaves are rich in vitamins and can be a good source of them in winter.

A peculiarity of ornamental cabbage is that the leaves lose their bitter taste after the first frost.

Photo

Look further at the photo of the “flower” with the names of its varieties:

Crane

Nagoya

Tokyo

Sunrise

Peacock tail

Landing dates, place and conditions

Ornamental cabbage belongs to the mid-season and late-ripening groups of plants. The growing season lasts from 140 to 160 days. Rosettes of colored leaves form in August and persist until October, in some varieties until November.

The site for its planting must be selected taking into account the late “flowering” period. First, early and annual flowers should bloom, and cabbage should not cover them. It can be planted along the fence or left in pots and then transferred to a flower bed.

Brasseca loves open areas and semi-shaded areas. The soil it prefers is loam and sandy loam soil. Like any cabbage, ornamental varieties do not like acidic soil.

When growing in open ground, the site should be prepared in the fall:

Application of fertilizing. 3 kg of compost, 50 g of superphosphate, 20 g of ammonium sulfate and 20 g of potassium chloride. Distribute the mixture over 1 square. m of land.
Digging. Dig up the flowerbed.
Watering. Moisturize well.
Shelter. Cover the area with polyethylene or other insulating material so that the applied fertilizers rot well.

In the spring, remove the covering material and dig and loosen the soil well.

Distinctive features from other species

Ornamental cabbage is a member of the Brassica family, which was formerly called Cruciferous , a type of curly cabbage. It has much in common with other types of cabbage, but there are also differences:

only ornamental cabbage is bred mainly to decorate summer cottages and flower beds;
unlike other types, such cabbage is resistant to cold and even not very severe frosts;
only decorative cabbage with blossoming leaves looks like the queen of flowers, the rose;
other varieties always have a certain color - green, red, purple, but only the decorative variety can have an unlimited number of colors;
it has curly leaves, as do kale and savoy cabbage, but the rest have smooth leaves.

Sowing ornamental cabbage for seedlings

There are 2 ways to grow cabbage for seedlings. Whichever one you choose, you will have to take into account some nuances.

Tips for growing seedlings

Being a cold-tolerant plant, cabbage will react negatively to heat rather than cold. Keep this in mind if you want to grow seedlings in a hot apartment. In such conditions it is better to wait until April or May. During these periods, you can still grow seedlings, although March-April is considered the ideal time.

After the first shoots appear, on about the 5th day, the container with the seedlings should be moved to a cool place and provided with good lighting for 12-15 hours a day. Otherwise, the plants will become very tall. Phytolamps are used to illuminate seedlings. If it is not possible to provide lighting to the seedlings, it is better to wait until the day naturally increases.

Ornamental cabbage seedlings are often affected by fungal diseases, so the seed and soil should be disinfected before planting:

the soil is calcined in the oven;
after cooling, treat with Fitosporin;
in a damp-wet state, the soil is left for several hours;
the seeds are soaked for 3-4 hours in a solution of Fitosporin or kept for 20 minutes in water at a temperature of 50 ° C, and then in a solution of potassium permanganate.

After these steps, you can begin sowing. Granulated, purchased seeds can be planted immediately without additional processing.

With a pick

This method is used if you need to grow a large amount of seedling material.

Sequence of work:

Fill the containers with soil. Its thickness should be at least 5 cm. Lightly compact it.
Make grooves 0.5-1 cm deep. There should be a distance of 3 cm between the grooves.
Place the seeds in grooves 1 cm apart. To do this, it is convenient to use a match or a toothpick.
Fill the grooves with soil and compact it slightly so that there are no air pockets inside.
Moisten the soil. Make sure it is damp but not puddling.
Create a greenhouse. To do this, cover the container with polyethylene and secure it with an elastic band around the perimeter.
Place the seedlings in a warm place. The temperature should be within +18-+24 °C. Light doesn't really matter at this stage.

If the work is carried out correctly, there is no need to water the cabbage before picking. After the first true leaves appear, after about 8-12 days, the cabbage is picked:

Prepare the required number of pots with a volume of 250 ml and fill them with soil mixture treated with Fitosporin.
Holes 2-3 cm deep are made in the ground.
Each sprout is dug out with a small spatula, along with a lump of earth, and transferred to pots.
Plants are deepened down to the cotyledon leaves. The earth around is being compacted.
Plants are watered by spraying with warm water.
Seedlings need to be fed before transplanting into the soil with liquid vermicompost or Agricola fertilizer. The procedure is carried out:
on day 28;
before planting in the ground.
10 days before planting in a flower bed, the seedlings are hardened off. First, they open the window, and then take it out onto the street or balcony. Start with 30 minutes, gradually increasing this time to the whole day.

Without picking

It involves sowing seeds directly into separate pots:

Prepare the required number of pots and fill them with prepared soil.
Holes up to 1 cm deep are made in the soil (1 pot - 1 hole).
Place 2-5 seeds in each hole and cover with soil.
The pots are covered with polyethylene, creating greenhouse conditions.
After germination, weak shoots are removed, cutting them off close to the ground with sharp thin scissors (you can use nail scissors), leaving one of the healthiest seedlings.

Planting ornamental cabbage in open ground

The optimal temperature for transplantation is considered to be +14-+18 °C. The soil should warm up to +8-+10 °C.

Cabbage can withstand night frosts down to -4 °C without harm.

At the time of transfer to the ground, the plant should develop 2-3 pairs of true leaves. The transplant is carried out together with a clod of earth, so the seedling will take root better.

Work order:

Prepare the wells . Planting pattern 25x40 cm. Pour 1 tsp into each hole. complex fertilizer and ash.
Transfer. Transfer each seedling to a separate hole. They deepen it to the cotyledon leaves and cover it with earth, slightly compacting it.
Shelter. The seedlings are covered with agrofibre until the plant takes root.

Problems during cultivation

Pests

A big problem when growing cabbage is the caterpillars of the cabbage white butterfly, which occur in two generations - in spring and summer. The best way to limit their invasion is to destroy the eggs. They are easy to recognize: they are yellow, 2-3 mm in size, and appear in large clusters on the underside of the leaves. Leaf inspection should be done weekly. Then other dangers will not escape - infection with cabbage aphids, which can be gotten rid of by spraying with decoctions of nettles, onions, and garlic. To avoid the danger from cabbage whites, cardboard protection with a diameter of 10-15 cm is put on the seedlings transferred to the ground, which prevents the development of the larvae.

It is better to plant cabbage at the end of May, when the cabbage white butterflies stop laying eggs.

The plant can also be affected by spring cabbage fly and slugs. It is necessary to use environmental methods to repel them as soon as possible, for example, a decoction of comfrey or tomato leaf extract (pour 2 handfuls of leaves into 2 liters of water, leave for 2-4 hours, then spray the plants).

Flea beetles can also be a nuisance; they can be controlled with insecticides or by spraying with tansy decoction.

Diseases

Gray rot - manifested by the appearance of an ash coating, causing rotting of plants. Infected leaves are removed and if symptoms worsen, sprayed with Topsin.
Leaf spot – the appearance of round, black and slightly jagged spots on the leaves indicates the presence of this disease. After some time, the affected leaves turn yellow and fall off. Regular spraying will help prevent the disease (for example, with Discus 500 WG, Polyversum WP, Topsin M 500 SC).
Sometimes the roots are affected by clubroot; this fungal disease can damage the underground part of the plant so much that it will eventually die completely.

The stem is too long

Seedlings of ornamental cabbage varieties purchased in the fall usually have a very beautiful, compact appearance and short, stocky stems with a lot of leaves. If you grow cabbage from seeds sown by yourself, you can end up with tall, wobbly heads on long, hairless stems (even more than 50 cm tall) that precariously balance in pots.

How to prevent cabbage from developing a long stem:

Take your time when sowing seeds - the longer the plants have a chance to grow, the taller they will grow.
It is better to sow the seeds in May. It is important to grow the vegetable only in full sun. All cabbages love the sun; in the shade they grow longer in search of sunlight.

You can try replanting it or hilling it higher, to the level indicated in the photo.

If the heads are tied

In most cases the heads are not tied. However, it may happen that the cabbage starts to tie its heads, this happens very rarely, and nothing can be done about it: the head will not “open”. You can simply eat it, for example, using it for colored cabbage rolls.

Photo. Head of cabbage

If the cabbage blooms

Any cabbage, even decorative ones, blooms at some point. The colorful rosettes of violet, purple or cream leaves are not its true flower, although the entire plant gives the appearance of being just one big cabbage flower. True flowers develop only in the second year of cultivation, if the plant overwinters well and is not thrown out. The inflorescences are clusters with loose white-yellow flowers.

Sometimes cabbage blooms already in the first year of cultivation if the weather deceives it so much that it thinks that winter is over. If there is a thaw and drought in winter, some cabbages will consider this a break in the growing season and will begin to grow again in the fall, only instead of multi-colored leaves they will produce inflorescences. Such plants will no longer produce decorative foliage in the fall, so you can discard them immediately.

Planting cabbage from seeds

Ornamental cabbage seeds can be purchased at a specialty store or collected from the garden.

How to collect seeds?

Cabbage produces an arrow in which the seeds ripen in the 2nd year of life. Only the best rosettes are selected for seeds. To collect them:

In the fall, dig up the cabbage by the roots from the garden bed;
remove the lower leaves;
bury leaves up to the leaves in a container with wet sand;
store in this condition until spring in a well-ventilated, cool and dry place;
in the spring, transplant the rosette into the ground;

To improve pollination, plant cabbage plants close to each other.

in June the cabbage will begin to shoot arrows;
the seeds in the pods will ripen by November;
When they are well dry, cut them off and thresh them.

To prevent birds from eating the seeds, the arrows are tied with cloth.

Sowing in greenhouse conditions

Before sowing seedlings in a greenhouse, first prepare the soil:

mix the soil from the site, peat and sand so that the layer thickness is 10 cm;
disinfect this substrate.

Next, sow the seeds:

moisten the soil well, but do not flood it;
make small depressions in the ground;
Place 2-3 seeds in each hole;
sprinkle them with earth;
you can cover the bed with polyethylene to increase the temperature;
after germination, remove the cover;
carry out loosening and watering.

When the plants have 2-3 true leaves, you can transfer the seedlings to open ground.

Sowing in open ground

"Brassica" can be sown immediately in open ground. It is better to do this in late April-early May. In unfavorable weather conditions, temporary shelter should be provided.

Work order:

Preparation. Loosen the soil well.
Watering. Moisten the soil with hot water with the addition of potassium permanganate, this will also serve as disinfection;
Holes or grooves. Make small holes up to 1.5 cm deep at a distance of 15 cm from each other; you can make grooves of the same depth.
Sowing. Place seeds in each groove at a distance of 5 cm from each other, or 1-3 seeds in each hole and cover with soil.
Shelter. Cover each hole with a cut bottle. Install arcs along the rows and stretch the film over them.
In cold weather, seedlings can wait up to 2-3 weeks.
Removing cover. When the sprouts hatch, the cover must be removed.
Watering. Start after the true leaf appears. During watering, alternate the solution of Fitosporin and complex fertilizer.
Thinning. Thin out the seedlings as they grow, leaving the strongest ones.
Transfer. After 2-3 true leaves appear, the plants can be moved to a permanent location.

Harvesting

From mid-August you can start picking young leaves for salads. It is not necessary to cut off all the leaves at once. You can cut 2-3 leaves, and new succulent shoots will soon grow in their place. When persistent frost sets in, edible cabbage can be transplanted into a container and grown at home. Cut cabbage leaves do not last long - up to 5 days.

How to care for ornamental cabbage?

Even a novice gardener can handle caring for ornamental cabbage.

Watering

Ornamental cabbage varieties need to be watered in a timely manner. To do this, 10 liters of water moisten 1 square meter. m of soil. In stable hot weather, watering is carried out every day in the morning or evening.

Cabbage grown in containers is watered abundantly in the morning or evening, and also sprayed to reduce evaporation.

Loosening

After watering, the soil needs to be loosened, thus improving air exchange in the root zone and roots. Carry out the procedure once every 7 days.

In addition to loosening, carry out hilling. Rake the soil under each bush. This way you can prevent the grown cabbage rosette from falling over, which becomes too heavy to stay on the stem.

Weeding

Periodically weed flower beds with ornamental cabbage. It is best to combine it with watering and loosening - it is easier to remove weeds along with the roots from wet, loose soil.

The flowerbed can be mulched with any suitable material: sawdust, straw, shavings, mown grass, dried weeds. Thereby reducing the number of watering, weeding and loosening.

Fertilizer

You need to feed ornamental cabbage 3 times per season:

2 weeks after planting. Add a solution of urea (30 g per 1 sq. m) or mullein (diluted in water 1 to 10). Nitrogen fertilizers are used with caution, as they help increase green mass, but impair the decorativeness of plants.
In 3-4 weeks. Nitroammofoska (10 g for each plant) or Azofoska solution (30 g diluted in 0.5 liters of water) is embedded in the soil.
After another 3-4 weeks, repeat the 2nd feeding.

On poor soils, fertilizing is applied 4-5 times per season.

Diseases, pests and prevention

Brassica can be affected by diseases and pests, just like table cabbage.

The most common diseases can be caused by:

Excessive watering. Never allow the soil to become waterlogged and do not use cold water. Otherwise, there is a danger of developing powdery mildew and root rot.
Excessive nitrogen fertilization. Increases susceptibility to disease.
Acidic soil. Becomes the cause of clubroot development. If necessary, deoxidize the soil with lime or dolomite flour.

If infection cannot be avoided:

at the initial stage, you can use the fungicides Fundazol, Quadris, Tiovit Jet;
in case of severe damage, the rosettes should be removed from the garden bed.

Of the pests, ornamental cabbage is most often affected by:

butterflies and caterpillars of cutworms and white moths;
cruciferous flea beetle;
aphids;
slugs.

You can use the following tools and methods:

insecticides Aktara, Bicol, Decis Profi;
spraying the planting every 10-14 days with an infusion of tobacco dust (infuse 2 cups per 5 liters of water for 24 hours) with the addition of a few tablespoons of liquid soap;
pollinate plants with ash with the addition of tobacco dust;
plant a flowerbed with marigolds or other strong-smelling plants;
mulch with pine needles;
collect slugs and caterpillars by hand or lay out special traps.

Reproduction

Ornamental cabbage propagates only by seeds, but the plant should not be classified as a hybrid. Hybrid seeds collected at home do not retain their color and decorative characteristics. Harvested seeds can be stored for 5 years.

High-quality seed of hybrids can be purchased from the following companies:

Gavrish;
Russian vegetable garden;
Aelita;
Search;
SeDek.

What ornamental cabbage is, as well as how to care for it, can be found out while watching the video:

Reviews

★★★★★
Svetlana, 35 years old. Every year I sow ornamental cabbage.
First, I sow in a greenhouse at the end of April or beginning of May, depending on the weather, and grow seedlings. After transferring it to the flowerbed, I always treat it with Intavir. To be honest, I don’t really like the plant, of course, in the fall - it’s gorgeous, but all summer it doesn’t present any beauty and you can’t cover it with other plants so that it doesn’t stretch out. ★★★★★
Tamara, 43 years old. I plant Brassica from time to time.
For those who want to experiment, I can say that the caterpillars eat it with the same appetite as regular food, so you need to keep an eye on it so that the beauty does not end up in holes. But with the onset of cold weather, it can be forgiven for all the additional treatments - the flowers have already faded, the caterpillars have hidden, and the cabbage “blooms” in all shades. This is simply the queen of autumn. ★★★★★
Maria, 28 years old. Last year I sowed ornamental cabbage directly into a flower bed with annual flowers.
And it was my mistake - over time it “strangled” all the flowers, and by the end of summer it was eaten by slugs. I had to remove it without waiting for the beauty. This year I bought seedlings right away - beautiful plants, already bright. I planted it at the end of May, and since June, it has become all overgrown with arrows and strange flowers. Disappointed. Hide

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Growing and caring for ornamental cabbage is no different from ordinary cabbage. You will have to grow seedlings, monitor soil moisture, weed, and fight pests and diseases. But, with a little patience and choosing a suitable place, from the beginning of autumn until frost, you can enjoy the variety of colors of luxurious rosettes.

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Popular varieties

The most common Brassica variety, most suitable for growing in the middle climate, is “Tokyo”. The Tokyo variety has rounded rosettes with dark green lower leaves. Inside there is a bright round pink rosette. Plants reach only 30 cm in height.

The Osaka variety is similar in appearance to Tokyo. But plants of this variety grow up to 60 cm in height and have more lower dark green leaves. The most common shades are white and pink.

The Nagoya variety has red and white terry rosettes. The edges of the foliage of this cabbage are very lush, like lace. If you sow and grow a whole flower bed of such cauliflower on your plot, then the festive mood will be ensured until severe frosts.

The variety "Kai and Gerda" combines a very beautiful combination of emerald green and violet blue. This cabbage is sold as a seed mixture. Palm-like bushes reach a height of 50 cm. Gerda looks very beautiful all summer.

Brassica varieties have been developed with very interesting names. For example, a very colorful Peacock Tail variety, the leaves of which are painted in pink and purple tones. Brassica variety "Heron" reaches a height of 1 meter. The variety in its blooming state looks more like a rich bouquet of roses.

A very interesting variety of “Red Curly Cabbage”. The variety can be either low or high. Plants reach a height of up to 130 cm. In appearance, red curly is similar to a fountain of flowers. The leaves are colored in an elegant purple color.

A low-growing variety of ornamental cabbage that looks like lush inflorescences is “Dove Victoria”. Plants of this variety reach only 35 cm in height. The leaves of the variety are very dense and wavy. The heart of the inflorescences is pale pink. This hybrid was developed in Japan.