Planting DesignDiscover the right plants for your garden.
Winter ’s cool handshake welcomes a number of hardy plants , admit the many sort ofornamental cabbages and kales(Brassica oleracea var.acephala , syn . Brassica oleraceavar.capitata ) , which seem to be everywhere right now . Deeply hued and elegantly cockle , they live belt of industrial park in North Carolina , and tiny pavement boxes in Manhattan — individually , as the centerpiece of an arrangement , or in a mathematical group , as a phalanx of consistent rosettes .
( Photo by : mobot.org )
These decorativeBrassicasare sometimes refer to as " flower " cabbage and kale , which is n’t wholly accurate . While they do flush — as biennials , they develop yellow - flowered spikes in the spring — they are train as an fall foliage plant . Their signature coil of color are leaves , not flowers — after all , it is the time of year of change temperature , and changing leave of absence . As the atomic number 80 drop , so does the chlorophyl . After several nights of frost , the central parting recede their green chlorophyll , revealing a rosette of blanched , pink , purple , and ruddy .
system of ornamental Brassicas and eucalyptus buds . ( Photo by : Peter Whiteley ) .
Both the ornamental cabbages and the cosmetic kales are in theBrassicaceaeFamily , and they have been cultivate and hybridize for so long that assortment can be sleeveless . Generally , shekels have leave of absence with crinkly edges , while the leave of kales are more ruffled . Cabbage leaves grow in heads , whereas bread grow in close stem canker of upright leaves . The chief varieties are group in serial : Osaka , Peaocck , Tokyo , and are distinguished by their colors .
While they are not a new addition to the nurseryman ’s winter pallet — they seem to have become so ubiquitous that they are often unnoticed — one wonders whether the vary leafy head have recently acquire raw significance , now , as forage is becoming popular . As we look for for wild pavement purslane , are we more inclined to notice a cluster of inscrutable imperial lettuce , just outside the front door ?
A windowpane box of decorative kail . ( Photo by : Ralph Anderson ) .
( It should be noted that while cosmetic moolah and cabbages are eatable , they are very bitter , and , any plant that has been landscaped in an urban space has most probably been sprayed with very uneatable chemical substance . )
Like other kale cultivars , ' Nagoya White ' is bred for its colour and leafage shape . ( Photo by : Karan Davis Cutler ) .
Anna Laurent is a writer and manufacturer of educational botanical media . photo from her forthcoming field guide to Los Angeles are available for exhibition and purchase ather website .
