The Autumn Queen Is An Ornamental Cabbage. Nursing And Reproduction. Varieties. Photo

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The Autumn Queen Is An Ornamental Cabbage. Nursing And Reproduction. Varieties. Photo
The Autumn Queen Is An Ornamental Cabbage. Nursing And Reproduction. Varieties. Photo

Video: The Autumn Queen Is An Ornamental Cabbage. Nursing And Reproduction. Varieties. Photo

Video: The Autumn Queen Is An Ornamental Cabbage. Nursing And Reproduction. Varieties. Photo
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Despite the fact that ornamental cabbage is quite edible and actually is the form of the most common garden cabbage, this plant is special in everything. Elegant rosettes and bright color change, turning heads of cabbage into charming giant "flowers" never cease to amaze. The fast growing ornamental cabbage is unmatched at the end of the gardening season. Showing all its beauty only with the arrival of cold weather, the cabbage flower brings patterned elegance to the gardens. In flower gardens and in the garden, this queen of autumn does not know competitors among seasonal plants.

Ornamental cabbage
Ornamental cabbage

Content:

  • Ornamental relative of common cabbage
  • Forms and varieties of ornamental cabbage
  • Use of ornamental cabbage in garden design
  • Conditions for growing ornamental cabbage
  • Caring for ornamental cabbage
  • Reproduction of ornamental cabbage

Ornamental relative of common cabbage

Cabbage, one of the most valuable, ancient and widespread vegetable crops, always looks attractive, even when it comes to simple collard greens or cabbage. Rounded heads and unique gigantic bushes with elegant leaves adorn any garden beds. But if we are talking about decorativeness, then any other cabbage will easily overshadow the variety that is classified as decorative deciduous seasonal crops - decorative cabbage.

Brassica, ornamental cabbage, as we simply call this plant, or cabbage curly varieties headless (today the official name is Brassica oleracea, the popular designation of the variety is Brassica oleracea var.acephala is a synonym name that makes it easier to identify the plant in the diversity of everything of the cabbage community) is the only ornamental representative of cabbage in the Brassicaceae family.

This is the same curly form of cabbage, known since the times of Ancient Greece, but modified by selection. We owe the distribution of especially bright varieties of kale-leaved cabbage as ornamental plants to the Northern European countries, but also in Japan and North America, and our cold-resistant ornamental cabbage is very popular.

Ornamental forms and varieties of cabbage are classified as ornamental deciduous annuals and biennials, depending on the growing strategy. In essence, ornamental cabbage belongs to the herbaceous biennials. The maximum plant height is limited to 60 cm for rosette forms, although there are separate and larger palm-type forms up to 2 m in height, surprising with huge leaves.

Naked, tough, large, with a curly edge, often decorated with a waxy bloom, cabbage leaves sit on cuttings at the base of the shoot, and at the top they turn into a sessile form, forming rosettes of various densities. The associations of ornamental cabbage with flowers are not accidental: in many varieties, the rosettes are reminiscent of roses, peonies, outlandish huge flowers due to the location and shape resulting from the "overlapping" of rows of leaves.

The diameter of the rosettes can exceed 50 cm. They differ in the density and accuracy of the pattern, the general shape. The leaves can be more pointed or rounded, with deeply cut edges or outgrowths at the ends of the veins, with a wrinkled and almost smooth surface, carved, reminiscent of fancy corals or algae. They can form rosettes and are located on the stem more rarely, creating the effect of classic foliage or "bundle".

The color palette of ornamental cabbage includes a wide variety of "cold" autumn-winter colors. Green - from silvery and bluish to bright green variations, white, cream, pink, purple, violet, red - these colors create strikingly beautiful effects of both watercolor and variegated contrast types. The outer leaves in rosettes are usually green, the inner ones are brightly colored. The transition from one color to another is always gradual and blurred, as if intensifying towards the center.

Ornamental cabbage fully reveals its beauty only when most of the seasonal plants wither as a result of a severe cold snap. In cabbage, on the contrary, beautiful colors of foliage appear even brighter, and until frost is stronger than 10-12 degrees of frost, it retains its decorative effect, decorating the area already constrained by the first breath of winter.

Ornamental cabbage, grade "Nagoya White"
Ornamental cabbage, grade "Nagoya White"
Ornamental cabbage, grade "Sunrise"
Ornamental cabbage, grade "Sunrise"
Ornamental cabbage, grade "Osaka Red"
Ornamental cabbage, grade "Osaka Red"

Types and varieties of ornamental cabbage

Ornamental cabbage is represented today by a huge number of not only individual varieties, but also interesting decorative forms. As a rule, the latter have become real classics and their appearance is well known to most gardeners. In addition to decorative forms, several varieties are distinguished, which differ in growth form and are also considered the basic varieties of ornamental cabbage.

Simple classifications allow you to navigate the variety of cabbage:

  1. By size: ornamental cabbage varieties are divided into undersized (up to 40 cm), medium-sized (up to 50 cm) and high - from 1 to 2 m in height.
  2. By the form of growth, there are rosette (varieties with a regular rosette of a rounded or flattened shape) and columnar or palm-shaped varieties.
  3. By the nature of the location of the foliage, cabbage is divided into cabbage, semi-cabbage, rosette, needle and brain varieties.
  4. According to the dominant color in the leaves, green, white, pink, yellow, red, purple varieties are distinguished.
  5. According to the shape of the leaves, round-leaved, flat-leaved, lyre-like pinnate, curly, corrugated, rarely incised varieties are distinguished.

The best decorative forms and varieties of headless kale include:

  • prolifera - tall, up to 60 cm cabbage with wavy leaves, a serrated rather than ruffled edge, outgrowths at the end of the veins and a curved leaf shape in rosettes, in which white, pink and red shades change into one another with a variegated effect;
  • laciniata - large cabbage with deep, pointed, curving leaves of mixed variegated green-red or green-white color;
  • crispa - a plant with filigree, delicately cut leaves and green-purple colors;
  • palmifolia is a very tall variety, capable of growing up to 200 cm, with narrow, curved, bubble-shaped green leaves collected in a bundle-like rosette at the top of the shoots;
  • Mosbakh cabbage - medium-sized green-leaved cabbage with curved, ruffled-curly leaves;
  • green branched - medium-sized cabbage with lyre-like glaucous leaves with a wrinkled surface and jagged edges;
  • curly green - undersized or tall varieties with very curly leaves along the edge;
  • green coarse-curly - medium-sized cabbage with feathery leaves, large-toothed edges and light green color;
  • Japanese round variegated white - medium-sized cabbage with whole, scalloped leaves that change color from green with pink spots in the outer circles to white with a green border on the inner ones;
  • Japanese variegated pink-red - medium-sized cabbage with densely spaced scalloped whole leaves, surprising with a raspberry color;
  • curly red - tall cabbage with a purple stem and densely curly gray-purple leaves;
  • plumed motley red - medium-sized cabbage with feathery leaves, decorated with raspberry veins, purple spots and narrowly dissected openwork leaves;
  • plumed variegated white - medium-sized cabbage with deeply dissected feathery leaves, decorated with a white border and veins;
  • blue giant - tall, more than a meter in shape with bluish or variegated purple lyre-shaped leaves, decorated with an unevenly jagged carved edge.

Basic forms and varieties of cabbage on sale are increasingly rare, but varieties with especially bright colors and expressive forms are replenished with new names every year.

Ornamental cabbage, grade "Peacock Red"
Ornamental cabbage, grade "Peacock Red"
Ornamental cabbage, grade "Scarletbor"
Ornamental cabbage, grade "Scarletbor"
Ornamental cabbage, grade "Peacock White"
Ornamental cabbage, grade "Peacock White"

The best varieties of ornamental cabbage

The best varieties of ornamental cabbage include:

  • Variety "Kamome Pink" - a low-growing cabbage with a very dense rosette of densely veined, wavy, corrugated along the edge of the leaves, changing green with violet at the edges with a low tint color on the outer leaves to raspberry-pink with a green border on the inner ones.
  • The old "Relay" variety is undersized, up to 35 cm in height and slightly more open in diameter, densely leafy rosette variety with drooping, round, solid leaves sitting on long petioles with a strongly corrugated edge.
  • Variety "Nagoya White" is a charming variety, densely laced along the edge of the leaves, with a beautiful longitudinal veining on the leaves, creating a graphic effect. The dark green leaves around the edge of the rosette are not as dense as the creamy white leaves in the center. The Nagoya series is distinguished by a unique graphic veining pattern and a thick double fringed edge on perfectly round two-tone rosettes.
  • A rose-like "Sunrise" variety with perfectly even, oval leaves creating a rosette that looks like a giant copy of a classic bush rose. The dark green color of several circles of the outer leaves contrasts with the yellowish-creamy tone of the inner leaves and a slight lilac-pink bloom in the very center of the rosette.
  • Rose-like variety "Osaka Red" with a strikingly regular shape of the ornamental rosette, smooth-wavy leaves and a double color - grayish-gray on the outer leaves and silvery-pink inside the rosettes. Other varieties of the Osaka series offer you to admire large, spectacular rosettes with varying degrees of terry leaf edges and the transition of two colors.
  • Sort "Tokyo Red" and other sorts of the "Tokyo" series - surprising with a dazzling middle of the rosettes varieties with very compact, wavy-corrugated dense rosettes.
  • The Lark's Tongue variety is a palm-shaped variety with densely double, carved leaves up to 70 cm long with a unique play of shades of green.
  • Variety "Malinovka" - a tall cabbage up to 150 cm in height with a narrow columnar shape, a dense rosette of drooping, rounded whole leaves, with a magnificently corrugated edge and a dominant reddish-purple tone.
  • Variety "Palmira" is a tall, up to 140 cm narrow-columnar variety with drooping leaves of a bright green color sitting on long petioles with a strongly corrugated edge.
  • Variety "Kraski Vostoka" is a semi-spreading variety, up to 50 cm in height with a smaller diameter of rosettes of rounded wavy long-petiolized leaves. The marginal leaves are gray, gradually the white-cream and purple color appears more and more, turning into a rich purple in the center.
  • Variety "Autumn Waltz" is a late variety with a raised, dense rosette about half a meter in diameter and slightly higher in height, formed by rounded wavy leaves on medium petioles. The wax coating emphasizes the play of green and purple in color.
  • Variety "Iskorka" is a sprawling undersized variety about 40 cm high with the same rosette diameter, flaunting with waxy, deeply dissected leaves with a slightly wavy edge.
  • Sort "Peacock White" is a beautiful variety with carved, small, dissected into the smallest fragments and somewhat reminiscent of frieze, now coral leaves with a change in color from gray-green to white with a pinkish center.
Ornamental cabbage will add bright colors to a wilting autumn garden
Ornamental cabbage will add bright colors to a wilting autumn garden

Use of ornamental cabbage in garden design

It is no coincidence that ornamental cabbage varieties are called one of the best late autumn plants. If the garden lacks colors and beautiful greenery at the very end of the active season, then ornamental cabbage is the best candidate for solving this problem. It will help revitalize flower beds and mixborders, compensate for the lack of skeletal plants, revitalize empty areas and create bright spots that will prevent the autumn garden from looking dull and lifeless.

Ornamental cabbage in the garden is used:

  • as a curb to create bold lines or dividers;
  • as a filler for areas freed from summer gardens, mini-flower beds and spots;
  • to fill voids in flower beds and flower beds;
  • for a solitary group or mono-flower plants - small islands of different varieties of cabbage or small-sized rabatki dedicated to this plant, including in patterned, ornamental compositions;
  • in carpet mixborders and arabesques, to create complex patterns and ornaments;
  • as a decoration for the foreground of compositions that are boring in autumn;
  • as a padding for shrubs and ornamental trees that attract attention in autumn.

Traditionally, ornamental cabbage is recommended to be used not in a vegetable garden, but in an ornamental garden, as a traditional seasonal plant and the main decoration of the end of autumn and early winter. But she will find a place in the garden too. Ornamental cabbage is one of the best plants for mixed design, garden decoration, and more than just a boring traditional collection of vegetables and herbs.

It can be planted in the border around the beds with other vegetables, introduced to the company with tea and spicy plants, planted as small accents in compositions with perennial vegetables that will revive the beds in the fall. Only a few bushes can decorate those places where, since October, you have to admire only bare soil.

This plant will reveal its beauty not only outdoors, but also in a pot culture. Ornamental varieties of cabbage will decorate the vacated stone flower girls and socles, they will replace letniki in pots, they will perfectly cope with the role of a void filler in street flowerpots and balcony containers, and when used with ampel partners they will even decorate hanging baskets. At the end of the season, after the onset of stable frosts and reaching the maximum decorative effect, cabbage can be dug up and transferred to containers for decorating windowsills.

Ornamental cabbage leaves are not just edible, but very useful - like any other cabbage. In terms of bitterness and taste, it is similar to kale. Young leaves are eaten. To reduce the hardness and bitterness, it is worth waiting for the first frost, when the full flavor potential of the plant is revealed. “Artificially” seasonal ripening is imitated by simply freezing the leaves before use.

Ornamental cabbage partners can be selected from any seasonal plant. Different varieties and shapes go well with each other, but cabbage looks great with cereals, marigolds, chrysanthemums and evergreen garden plants. This plant contrasts with any neighbor and does not lose its beauty in the company of even the brightest stars.

Ornamental cabbage will reveal its beauty not only in the open field, but also in the pot culture
Ornamental cabbage will reveal its beauty not only in the open field, but also in the pot culture

Growing conditions for ornamental cabbage

Despite the status of an unpretentious plant, ornamental cabbage will not be able to settle anywhere in the garden. This is a light-loving culture that, when shaded at the end of summer, will not have time to reveal either the power or the beauty of the rosettes. If a bright color or lush rosettes are not so important, you can experiment with scattered semi-shaded areas, but traditionally, light or sunny areas are chosen for planting cabbage. This plant is not afraid of drafts, it is cold-resistant, grows well even in polluted air.

The choice of soil characteristics should also be carefully considered. Ornamental cabbage varieties prefer medium, high-quality and well-developed soils. They cannot develop normally in soils with strongly expressed acidity or alkalinity, in poor, dense, too light soil. Nutritious sandy loam and loamy soils are rightly called the best option for ornamental cabbage. The soil is dug deeply, introducing full mineral and organic fertilizers in a standard dosage.

Ornamental cabbage does not like either too dense or sparse planting (bare soil does not decorate compositions with this plant). When choosing a distance, they usually maintain a distance from neighboring plants equal to the estimated diameter of the rosette of the cabbage itself. On average, cabbage is planted at a distance of 50-60 cm from neighboring plants. Ornamental cabbage is always planted in a checkerboard pattern.

Cabbage is not afraid of transplanting, but only if the plants receive regular care immediately after planting, do not suffer from drought, and provided that the earthen coma around the roots is preserved intact. When planting, it is important to avoid contact with the roots. Ornamental cabbage can be transplanted from place to place at any age using rosettes to fill the voids.

Ornamental cabbage can be transplanted from place to place at any age - and this is another plus
Ornamental cabbage can be transplanted from place to place at any age - and this is another plus

Caring for ornamental cabbage

This culture cannot be classified as a plant that can be "planted and forgotten." Without full care, you will not be able to enjoy the size, density and quality of the leaves, or observe the luxurious colors. The plant needs regular maintenance, especially during abnormal weather.

The ornamental cabbage care program includes:

  • abundant watering before the resumption of active growth after planting and in drought, which is carried out not superficially, if possible, combining with sprinkling or spraying of plants and using only warm, settled water;
  • loosening the soil, combined with weeding or watering;
  • mulching with any available materials, which will reduce the number of watering and loosening with weeding;
  • top dressing with any organic (except manure) or complex fertilizers in a standard dosage (they are carried out 7-10 days after planting and repeated another 1-2 times, for poor soils - 3-4 times);
  • pouring soil to the base of the stem when the stability of the outlets is disturbed.

Ornamental cabbage, no less than its highly useful relatives, is susceptible to damage by butterfly caterpillars and is loved by slugs. To combat the latter, it is worth mulching the soil with needles, hay or ash, but the caterpillars are fought with preventive spraying with a solution of superphosphate at a concentration of 10 g per 1 liter of water, which is best done after each rain. If there are signs of damage to any fungal diseases, the plants should be immediately treated with systemic fungicides.

Ornamental cabbage reveals its beauty only with the arrival of cold, fully showing all the colors characteristic of the varieties. Decreases in temperature and slight frosts are not terrible for her. Plants are left in the compositions until the temperature drops below 12 degrees below zero and the rosettes lose their decorative effect. Frozen cabbage can be left to decorate the garden in winter, removing the bushes only in spring.

Ornamental cabbage cannot be attributed to plants that can be "planted and forgotten"
Ornamental cabbage cannot be attributed to plants that can be "planted and forgotten"

Reproduction of ornamental cabbage

Ornamental cabbage varieties are grown only from seeds, mainly by seedlings. Sowing immediately into open soil is not always crowned with success due to the susceptibility of young shoots to the black leg and the need to provide careful care, but it is quite acceptable. Cabbage is sown in mini-greenhouses or hotbeds, under non-woven materials, in late April or early May. Young plants need careful watering. Plants dive as full leaves are formed.

In order to get 100 bushes of ornamental cabbage, it is enough to use 0.5 g of seeds. Sowing for this culture is carried out in individual pots or cassettes with individual cells. The optimal sowing lines are the third decade of March. It is advisable to soak the seeds for several hours before sowing in the soil in warm water or a weak fungicide solution.

For ornamental cabbage, use a universal substrate or soil of sand, leafy soil and peat in a ratio of 1: 2: 2. The sowing containers are carefully filled with the substrate without tamping it and watered before sowing. Seeds are sown in 2 pieces, covering the top with a layer of soil about 1 cm. After sowing, watering is repeated. The containers do not need to be covered with glass or foil. For the germination of ornamental cabbage, you need to maintain a stable temperature of about 19-20 degrees. On average, seedlings appear in 2-5 days. The lower the temperature, the slower the germination process.

Young shoots of ornamental cabbage very often fall out. It is rightly ranked among the most sensitive to blackleg plants, but seedlings can die from simple rot and from other factors. In order to preserve sensitive seedlings, it is necessary to abandon traditional watering until the plants get stronger, forming sufficiently thick trunks and releasing the first true leaf. To maintain humidity, instead of regular and drip irrigation, use the method of frequent but very light spraying. Seedlings of ornamental cabbage do not dive, of the two shoots they leave the strongest.

During the entire period of growing seedlings, before planting in the soil, the plants are carefully watered, avoiding waterlogging and drying the soil between these procedures. For seedlings of ornamental cabbage, two dressings are carried out - during the growth of the first true leaf and at the beginning of hardening for transfer to a permanent place.

For ornamental cabbage, you need to choose the brightest place on the windowsills. On cloudy days, the plants are best illuminated. It is advisable to keep the seedlings of this plant cool, at a temperature not higher than 16 degrees. The minimum allowable values are 12 degrees Celsius. If possible, temperatures can be controlled stricter, maintaining optimal performance:

  • from 10 to 12 degrees during the day and from 6 to 8 degrees at night in the first week after germination;
  • from 13 to 16 degrees during the day and from 8 to 10 degrees at night before hardening.

Ornamental cabbage seedlings can be transferred to a permanent place in the third decade of April or the first decade of May, with protection from return frosts, or from the second half of May, if there is no possibility to additionally cover the plants. Hardening of seedlings begins at least 2 weeks before planting.

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