Ornamental cabbage - growing and care

Everyone wants his site to be the brightest and most beautiful. This is easy to do today. The market offers a wide range of flowers, trees and shrubs. The beauty of the garden is especially appreciated, which pleases with its colors until winter. To achieve the desired effect, more and more people prefer ornamental cabbage.

Ornamental cabbage - vegetable or flower?

A few years earlier, few people thought that cabbage could be used to decorate their garden plots. Everyone knew her as a delicious vegetable, which is distinguished by its variety of varieties. But few people thought that ornamental cabbage has existed since the 4th century AD. It was a common weed then.

It is now a biennial plant. After planting in the first year, leaves are formed, and the next cabbage begins to bloom and bear fruit. The maximum plant height can reach 130 centimeters, and one meter in diameter. It is considered decorative due to its leaves and their amazing color. With the help of such cabbage, you can solve problems with decorating and filling voids on the site. The leaves can be smooth or curly. In size, they can grow up to 60 cm long and 30 cm wide. There are a large number of decorative cabbage colors. It can be combined with a variety of flowers and shrubs.

Ornamental cabbage in landscape design

In order for ornamental cabbage to harmoniously combine with the site, it is worth considering all the little things when planting, for example, such as:

1. Garden parameters and dimensions.
2. Find a good prominent spot for the plant.
3. Arm yourself with fantasy.
4. Choose the varieties you like.

And, of course, do not forget that such a cabbage is an ornamental plant, not an edible one, so it must be treated properly.

If you decide that the site needs this particular plant, then you should know how and with what to combine it:

• Ornamental cabbage goes well with bright orange marigolds and saffron or physalis.
• This plant can be used as decorative border.
• So that the flower beds are not empty when they bloom annual plants in their place, you can plant such a cabbage.
• Similar plants are suitable for growing in pots or containers big size.

Few people know, but the cultivation of ornamental cabbage in landscape design is an unpretentious occupation. She is not afraid of moisture, sun, or severe frosts. Bouquets can be made from such cabbage. In this case, they are cut to the root and placed in a vase of water. Such a bouquet will last for a long time if the water is changed every day and a little sweetened. Ornamental cabbage in landscape design can be used as you like. There is no need to resort to any rules. You can do it yourself beautiful flower bedsby planting plants in certain shapes and patterns.

In order to have an idea of ​​the plant, you can see a photo of ornamental cabbage. This is how she looks in the finished flower bed:

And now it's worth considering the main common varieties.

Ornamental cabbage varieties

In order not to get confused in the variety of species, it is worth learning in more detail some varieties of ornamental cabbage:

• "Curly garden". The homeland of this cabbage is Western Europe. The plant reaches a height of 60 cm. It has dark purple or gray-green leaves.This ornamental cabbage grows with a rosette of leaves that can be pink, white or purple in color. The leaves are located close to the stem and are green. Ruffled along the edge.
  
• "Green curly". This variety can be either low or tall. The leaves are fluffy, curly, green.
  
• "Green branched". Cabbage grows to a height of no more than 70 cm. Leaves are gray-green. There are several subspecies of this variety: rosette, needle, head and half-head. This plant can be of any shape, such as round, flat or columnar. This variety has a huge palette of colors at the leaves: yellow, red, green, white and pink.
  
• "Robin". This is a mid-season variety. The plant can grow up to 1.5 meters in height and 40 cm in diameter. The leaves are rounded with corrugated edges. Their color is red-violet. This variety of ornamental cabbage tolerates low temperatures well and is resistant to various diseases.
  
• "Colors of the East". This is the latest variety. Ornamental cabbage has a semi-spreading rosette of gray-green hue, which gradually develops into a purple color. It tolerates frost well and is resistant to various rodents.
  

These are the five main varieties of ornamental cabbage. Each of them may contain additional subspecies. The following is a photo of ornamental cabbage of different varieties in one flower bed.

Growing ornamental cabbage to decorate the site

To grow such beauty in your country house, you should first purchase seeds. In open ground, it is better to plant ready-made seedlings, so let's start by looking at how to grow it properly. For this, a container is prepared, which must be filled with the ready-made soil mixture.
If the soil is collected from the dacha, then it is imperative to decontaminate the earth, and then you can plant seeds. Seedling care is carried out in the usual way. It can be planted in open ground from mid-May. This is done in special holes, at a distance of 30 cm from each other. Growing ornamental cabbage to decorate a site is not difficult. The main thing is to take care of the plant in a timely manner as usual:

• Watering.
• Fertilizer.
• Weeding.
• Loosening.

So, let's take a look at each item separately. Cabbage loves standing watering and spraying. It is better to do this in the morning or evening. If the weather is dry, then you need to water the cabbage every day.

It is worth fertilizing mineral products and mullein. This is done no more than once a week.

After constant watering and rains, the soil in the flowerbed must be loosened. This will help oxygenate the roots of the plant.

And, of course, the flowerbed must be weeded out. They interfere with the full growth and development of cabbage. Also, during the period of growing ornamental cabbage to decorate a garden plot, you can meet a global problem - rodents and insects. The former can eat plant roots and seeds. The latter gobble up the cabbage leaves and spoil its appearance. They must be dealt with immediately and try to prevent their occurrence.

Before planting seedlings or seeds, add to the soil ash and pour boiling water over the earth. But to get rid of insects, plants constantly need to be sprayed with special preparations that fight deciduous caterpillars. These little tricks will help get rid of pests once and for all.

How to beautifully decorate the site with ornamental cabbage?

As already found out, the most interesting and unpretentious garden decoration is ornamental cabbage in a flower bed. The following photo clearly proves this.

Several varieties can be planted at the same time, alternating between them. If at the beginning of our article you did not know how to decorate a plot with the help of ornamental cabbage, now ideas have already arisen in your head that need to be implemented.Also in this endeavor will help a detailed layout of ornamental cabbage in a flower bed. The photo can be viewed further.

Even novice gardeners can handle such a plant as ornamental cabbage. You can make amazing compositions using cabbage, perennials and various shrubs. Above is a diagram of a method of how to beautifully decorate a site with the help of ornamental cabbage. You can make various patterns and ornaments on the flower bed. Cabbage goes well with tall plants. You can also make beautiful from it vertical or hanging flower beds.

The unpretentiousness of the plant solves the problems of landscaping and decorating streets and parks. Increasingly, you can find ornamental cabbage in city photos.

We decorate our site with ornamental cabbage - video