Contents
Ornamental cabbage is an amazing plant that is valued more by designers than by cooks. She is so beautiful that everyone forgets that it is just cabbage, that you can eat it. She wants to admire, and I must say, she allows you to do this for a very long time. From mid-summer to late autumn, becoming more and more beautiful, increasing the intensity of color, it decorates flower beds and gardens, while all other flowers turn yellow and dry.
Description
Long known to vegetable growers, ornamental cabbage became fashionable thanks to Japanese breeders who, from the end of the XNUMXth century, began to create new varieties of diverse and exquisite appearance. This oriental beauty turned out to be unpretentious in breeding and very resistant to a decrease in air temperature. The more severe the weather, the brighter and richer its colors look: not too prominent in the summer among the riot of summer flowers, with the advent of autumn colds, even frost, she becomes a real queen. She is not afraid of lowering the temperature to -8 degrees.
Leaf ornamental cabbage looks like a rose, the bright flower of which is framed by more delicate green petals. If you dig it up at the end of autumn with a large earthen clod and, after transplanting it into a pot, bring it into the room, it will retain its beauty all winter. Or you can just cut it and put it in water – it will decorate the apartment for at least a month. A favorite of park designers in Europe and Japan, ornamental cabbage belongs to two-year-old plants. In the first year of vegetation, cabbage leaves (which so resemble flowers) are formed, and in the second – flowers and fruits.
Representatives of different varieties of this amazing plant look very different. The height varies from 20 to 130 cm, and the diameter of the rosette can reach 1 m. The length of the leaves can vary from 20 to 60 cm, and the width – from 10 to 30 cm. Some plants look like palm trees, while others look like a rose flower sprouted directly from earth. The shape of the leaves is striking in variety: they can be round, fringed, with various cuts or openwork, like fancy algae. Green color of different shades can be decorated with white stripes, bluish or cheesy spots. The inside of the sockets can be painted in different shades of reddish-violet, be any color from snow-white to maroon. Moreover, the intensity of the color increases with cooling.
Sorts
Ornamental cabbage has been known for a very long time, the mothers and grandmothers of the current designers of park art knew it as fodder. Gribovskaya the experimental station gave the world many varieties of fodder cabbage, which can now surprise the eye by weaving it into the lace of autumn flower beds.
There are groups of varieties “Curly high” and “Curly low”. Variety “Lark tongue” refers to the green representatives of the first group, it resembles a palm tree 120-130 cm high. Curly, scalloped leaves grow on long petioles, hanging down a little and wrapping downwards. Different shades of green look especially bright with the advent of October. The name “Red Curly High” speaks for itself, the representatives of this variety look like an exotic tree with purple leaves, which reaches out to the sun with all its might.
“Red curly low” grows no higher than 60 cm, but it has such long and spreading leaves that the whole plant can reach a diameter of 1 meter. These are varieties of kale, they all look like trees of different colors and give a somewhat alien look to our traditional gardens and vegetable gardens. The most common among themKai и Gerda“- leaves are emerald and purple,”Mosbachskaya“- leaves are somewhat elongated, pale green in color, “Kale” – red corrugated leaves.
Cabbage cultivars grow wider than they are tall, reminiscent of fairytale flowers in their shape and color. Among them are many Japanese varieties. Hybrids of the Tokyo series are a round rosette made up of dense rounded leaves, 30 cm high. The lower leaves are pale green, may have a purple tint, and the upper ones, which look like the center of a flower, have a color corresponding to the name of the variety. So, Tokyo Pink – pink, Tokyo White – white, Tokyo Red Level – red in different shades.
Osaka series cabbage grows up to 60 cm high, and the rosette diameter can reach 45 cm. Its leaves are corrugated with wavy edges or completely straight. Outlet center white Osaca white, red Osaca Red Level and pink ones Osaca Pink. Hybrids of the series “Nagoya“reach a height of up to 60 cm, their color is red, pink or white. The fringed edges of the leaves give the impression of intricate weaving of lace around the perimeter of the petals of a giant (60 cm in diameter) flower.
Variety “coral Quinn» due to its very heavily cut leaves, purple framed by green, it really looks like a mysterious coral. Hybrid “Peacock” with a rosette with a diameter of 70 cm, with its openwork leaves of various colors, always attracts the closest attention at exhibitions. It will serve as a wonderful decoration for the most exquisite garden, the color of its leaves appears earlier than in plants of other varieties – even in summer.
Cabbage variety “Lace Jabot” justifies its name, strongly corrugated leaves resemble a starched collar. “Piglon” and “Sunrise» resemble roses on thick branches, you can create bouquets of them in flowerpots or on an alpine hill. “Princess”, “Winter’s Tale”, “Victoria” – it is difficult to choose the most charming representative of this exotic family, but you can acquaint your garden with one or two varieties every year, each time enjoy yourself and surprise your neighbors. Moreover, it is not difficult to grow them, and it is not difficult to care for them.
Video “Petunia and ornamental cabbage”
Care and reproduction
Although ornamental cabbage is a biennial plant, it is grown as an annual: seedlings are prepared at the very beginning of spring, planted after spring frost, when it has already come, maybe a little, but constant heat (usually in April). You can sow directly into the ground, but then you have to constantly look after it, shelter it from possible cold.
In the second half of March, the seeds of ornamental cabbage should be sown. To do this, they take some dishes 15 cm deep, fill it with non-acidic soil (they mix equally turf or garden soil with humus, garden soil can be mixed with peat). Seeds are placed in loose, moist soil at a distance of 3-4 cm from each other and covered with another 1,5 cm of earth on top. You need to water everything well and put the boxes in the greenhouse, or find a cool, bright place for them in the apartment. Loggias or glazed balconies are well suited for seedlings. In a week, shoots will already appear, for them the temperature will be comfortable no higher than 8 ° C, and after a week you can increase it to 15 ° -18 °.
After a month, the seedlings are ready for planting in open ground, weather permitting. This is later, in the fall, an adult strong and large plant is not afraid of light frosts, and in April a delicate tiny plant needs to be protected, it has not yet gained strength. Seedlings can be planted somewhere in the garden; they should tolerate transplantation well if they are relocated with a large earthen clod. It does not require complex care, but loves loose soil, regular watering and weekly top dressing. You can feed it with any nitrogen complex fertilizer, and loosen the ground around the root.
Anyone who grows cabbage near his house and has the opportunity to monitor it daily can sow the seeds right away in the garden. This can be done at the end of April, but on cold nights (and maybe during the day you will have to) cover the seeds, and then the seedlings with a non-woven fabric and plastic wrap, and open them under the spring sun during the day.
In the middle of summer, cabbage begins to turn into a beauty, pour juice and show its color, at this time it must be protected from pests. It is necessary to carefully examine each plant, treat it with insecticides, bacterial preparations, ash, and collect caterpillars. If you plan to send this plant for food in the fall (it’s cabbage!), You will have to do without chemistry. Ash, red pepper, tobacco – they need to be sprinkled on the plant after irrigation so that the powder remains on wet leaves. At the same time, you still need to spud, water and feed. Perhaps, during this period – the middle of summer – cabbage needs the most careful care.
By the end of summer, pests disappear, ornamental cabbage becomes brighter. At this time, she can be transplanted to the main place, she is already becoming a real beauty, and caring for her is facilitated. Ornamental cabbage can grow in large pots with a volume of at least 15 liters. Care will be the same, even easier. The pots are kept indoors, and then the bright beauty is put on public display. In pots, more frequent watering will be needed, on hot days – daily, but it can be saved from pests. With the advent of frost, the owners often dig up cabbage, transplant it into a large bowl and transfer it to the room.
If the grower wants to wait for the seeds from his plant, then you need to carefully dig it up with the root in the fall and leave it in limbo for the winter in a cool pantry. You need to hang it root up, carefully wrapping it together with a small amount of earth with polyethylene. In a warmer climate, where in winter the temperature does not fall below -5 ° C, cabbage hibernates in the ground, and in spring it releases a tall pedicel from the middle and continues its vegetation cycle. Actually, her flower is not as beautiful as the leaves of the first year, which we incorrectly call a flower. Therefore, it is easier to buy seeds and admire the plant of the first year, which does not require any special care at all.
Using
From late summer to mid-autumn, cabbage is a miracle of floristry. Exotic bouquets are made from it and introduced into exquisite interiors. Without requiring special care, it decorates flower beds, gardens and household plots. If Japanese breeders are concerned with the appearance of this strange plant, then French culinary specialists see it as an exquisite delicacy. Ornamental cabbage contains three times more selenium in its young shoots than white cabbage. The French like to make salads from its leaves, and marinate the stems.
Its leaves are harder and bitter compared to the white cabbage we are used to, but quite tasty. If you dig up a bright plant in the fall and transfer it to an apartment, then you will always have a fresh juicy vitamin ingredient for salads at hand, which requires almost no maintenance. The leaves can be stewed with other vegetables so that they do not taste bitter, they should be frozen before use for a short time. You can also decorate dishes with them, because any sandwich served on a bright lace leaf will seem festive.
Video “Decorative cabbage – decoration of your flower bed”
In the video you will see how this attribute can easily replace flowers and other garden utensils, and make a pleasant and beautiful exterior.
