Marvel at the Cabbage Flower
Added 2023-05-24 05:44:20 +0000 UTCMy brassicas are flowering.
I grew them both from seed, my cabbage and kohlrabi (on the left and right, respectively). In fact, the current cabbage may have been a seed I harvested by hand from a previous cabbage that I grew some years ago. I’m not 100% sure, but I’m, like, 85% positive that it is from one of the plants I let go to seed and then collected for the next year’s crop.
Cabbages are part of the brassica plant family that also includes broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, Brussels sprouts and probably a couple more that I’m not remembering.
I love how brassicas look identical when they’re young and then again when they’re flowering. Like, you’re not going to mistake a mature cabbage and Brussels sprout plant, but when they’re both just baby starts and then again when they shoot up that flowering stalk from their center like a flagpole and it freakin erupts in a cloud of yellow flowers? (basically) I D E N T I C A L .
Anyway, I just think brassica flowers are pretty.
I love the swoopy curves that the branches(?) make, it's very Art Nouveau-y (Or, rather... Art Nouveau is emulating the organic shapes and curves found in nature, such as the swoopy blossom-clustered branches(?) of brassica plants). I love how the flowers look like one giant cloud from a distance, but when you get up close you can see they're made up of hundreds of these little yellow bell-shapes all dangling off each stalk.
Can you tell the difference? Cabbage flowers on the left, kohlrabi flowers on the right, brassicas through and through.
Unfortunately, some heavier rain brought a great swath of my beautiful blooming branches down hard. But that’s ok!
I just brought them inside.
Comments
Was at a friend's tonight with a beautiful garden on the north side of tabor and saw a variety of beautiful flowering brassicas and indeed, could not tell them apart, but reveled in it!!! So gorgeous!!!! Thank you for these kinds of posts, I love them so much!!!
Rachel Kelly
2023-05-31 05:18:50 +0000 UTCEven the colours give me Art Nouveau vibes. Ahh I love them!
The Ferret
2023-05-27 02:46:10 +0000 UTCI love this! There is something so whimsical about these dignified greens going to seed and making their long, luxurious flower stems. When my arugula bolted last month, I brought it inside as well- the blossoms were white and smelled very sweet!
2023-05-25 05:36:48 +0000 UTCAll of my favorite vegetables are various forms of Brassica oleracea.
tim1724
2023-05-24 17:56:45 +0000 UTCNone of my dozen of Meyer lemon seeds have germinated yet. So I looked them up. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meyer_lemon Citrus loves hybridization, Meyers are a hybrid cross between a citron and a mandarin. (They also harbored a bad virus and there is an improved Meyer lemon which does not). So even if my seeds start, there is no telling what they are going to taste like (5 years down the road) as who the heck knows what pollinated the fruit I pulled the seeds from. Stupid bees... Ah the joys of gardening!
allanfranta
2023-05-24 12:59:09 +0000 UTCThey ARE all the same exact species, we just harvest different parts from each. :)
Becky Fish
2023-05-24 08:24:55 +0000 UTC
