Ornamental Kale
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Ornamental Kale Trivia
The Ornamental kale or Flowering kale, Brassica oleracea (Ornamental Cabbage and Kale Group), is a beautiful and easy-to-care for plant perfect for your outdoor space. It comes in an endless variety of broad ruffled or curled leaf cultivars. Varying from the colors of creamy white, red, pink and purple. It grows a tight and compact rosettes of leaves and is often used in flower arrangements or in container gardens.
Even though they are biennial plants, hardy from USDA zone 2-11, they are mostly used as annual plants. They do really well in cold climates and seasons and are frost tolerant and evergreen. They will look beautiful all through the winter. It is actually best to grow them during the cooler seasons of the year, spring, fall and winter, since warm temperatures can cause them growing tall and leggy and won't promote any colorful leaves.
Ornamental Kale is best kept growing in cool conditions to enhance a colorful foliage.
Care
Keep your Ornamental kale outdoors to prevent issues such as dry leaf tips and browning. Kale are also known for giving of a strong cabbagy smell that isn't often appreciated in an indoors environment.
It can be grown in most locations but does best in a bright spot with plenty of light. It is a thirsty plant so make sure it is watered well. If it has rained on your Ornamental kale you can add the "Rain" task to your plant in Planta. Even though it's a thirsty plant it won't enjoy being overwatered. In colder conditions the water evaporates slower so do not overwater your Kale plant.
Other
Ornamental kale can be grown from seed but is often bought as ready plants in pots. They don't grow too much when planted in late summer or fall. So when purchasing a Ornamental kale for you outdoors space or for your mixed container garden, you should choose one that's already in the size you want it to be in.