Sunday, April 6, 2014

The beauty of ornamental kale.

Kale after a frost.
Kale bolting.
Ornamental kale. It fascinates me. It is a relative of cabbage (both are brassicas) but it doesn't form a head. Yes, you can eat it, but it is more bitter than the "edible" kale. It is a great plant for the winter, providing beautiful color when little else is even alive (left photo), much less thriving. But kale will be there, in all its glory.  I took the photo on the right this morning. This is kale blooming (beginning stages). A biennial, it is going to seed and then will have completed its life cyle. If it is anything like turnip (another brassica), it will be great forage for my bees and they will go hog wild for the blossoms. The kale blossoms, in fact, look very similar to a turnip blossom.  I can't wait to see what the bees do with this. Every year I find something else to strew around our property. Turnips, clover, dandelions, buckwheat, sorghum. This fall, I feel quite certain I will be adding kale.


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