Well here it is cold weather in our area and I am seeing beautiful pots of Ornamental Cabbage and Kale. I would love to pick up a dozen or more of these beautiful winter plants but can't seem to part with the $5 ea or more price tag. I was wondering if anyone grows them from seed? I think I'd like to give it a try for next year.
Ornamental Cabbage and kale
They are easy to start as regular cabbage, Just remember to start them 6-8 weeks before transplanting time.
If I want good sized plants for the end of Sept beginning of Oct I would think I'd be starting them in the heat of August?
That sounds about right, I start cabbage, cauliflower, collards and broccoli in late July - Early August. Of course my plant beds are in shaded damp area but they start fine with triple digit temps as long as the soil temps don't get too high. Can't start them in an open field. I seldom do ornamentals, but the same cultural conditions apply.
Thanks, I'll be giving that a try next summer.
HollyAnnS - I started my broccoli/collards from seeds on my birthday - July 25th and they did great. Kale/Cabbage is in the same family.
I scattered the seed in the bed where I pulled the onions from the month before, and transplanted them when they had at least four true leaves.
I've grown ornamental kale for the past 2 years. Much like Hollyann, I can't justify paying $7-8.00 per pot to dress up my fall landscape. In my zone, I've been starting them as soon as I get my other seedlings outside in May. I have found that keeping them in dappled shade does well (my yard has a southern exposure, so some protection from summer heat is needed). I've been starting mine in 2/12" pots, then moving them up to 1 qt. pots as they grew. Not sure if it's necessary to do that--has anyone had any experience starting them off in larger pots?
By late Sept. - early Oct. I had heads that were good sized. We had some nice cool weather this fall, so they developed beautiful color. Just pulled the last ones out of my patio containers to replace with the winter decor.
Thanks everyone for the info. You know I don't even see small ones for sale earlier in the season . The only ones I ever see are the big ones for big$$. I'd love to fill my front beds with fall pansies and ornamental kale. Even if I just filled my window boxes and the two wall mounted pots by the front door I would need 8 of them plus the pansies.
A small group of DG friends from the Mid-Atlantic region went to beautiful Longwood Gardens. They put on an unbelievable Christmas display. When we saw this Christmas tree made from Ornamental Kale I knew I had to show you all a pic.
There is a metal frame with pot sized hoops to hold the plants. They just set the potted kale in the hoop and water. It was quite impressive. This area had some fruit tree espaliers a grape arbor and some other fruit and veggie displays.
