cami19 I love the look of that third picture for a large space, but alas I fear my garden would truly be a rabbit buffet line.

hamsteaky Love these plants but the snails make mincemeat of them

roxychampagne I love the look but the squirrels love the taste

Samantha Schoech Maybe a dumb question, but are these perennials? I have a low maintenance garden of phorium and succulents in my small front yard in coastal Northern California (cool, foggy, salt air) and I love these but am wondering about maintenance and water needs. Thanks.

J. Peterson Garden Design Hey guys--thanks for reading! If you have trouble with slugs eating your cabbage and kale, you can try a number of things. Snail/slug baits or beer traps have been widely used, and coffee grounds or sand sprinkled around the plants can deter them as they don't like to crawl over gritty surfaces. I also just read that adding rosemary as a companion plant can deter them, but I haven't tried that myself. Samantha, these plants are more widely used as annuals, as they will "bolt" or flower after a few months, getting leggy and unattractive. They may not die per se, but they won't look very good.

Minty I'm sadly cursed with a rotted green thumb, but I like the look of the ornamental cabbage. Could this be an indoor container plant as decor? I don't like flowers in general since the smells give me a head ache and it does weird things to my sense of smell. If it can, how do I grow one?

lilion Gosh, I intended to grow these this year. But with everyone talking about things eating them, I guess that's a no-go. We have squirrels by the ton and I have chipmunks living under my front containers that one year ate every blade of swiss chard I had in a container. So yeah, edible plants would just be a lovely salad bar for them.

sclawson Doesn't ornamental cabbage have an unpleasant odor if you get too close? Seems like I've heard that. Love the look of them, but they do tend to look a little weird once they start to bolt.

CAROLE MEYER That third photo down is a knockout! Love Kale.....

OT METAL WORKS / INDUSTRIAL, ENGINEERING, ARTS Wonderful View for the third photo

Catt Love the look of picture three. I don't have much in the way for pests around here so will definitely be using these this year in the container. Maybe with the sweet potato vines.

mmm923kane Wow! Third picture is a knock out; however, I have a problem with squirrles, raccoons and possums.

janadiane I have dozens of squirrels on my propery and not one nibble on my ornamental cabbage.

Susan Parker I bought some of these at a florist to display in a vase. Some of them kept for ages and when I finally took them out of the vase I saw they had grown little roots, just like a succulent. I was really pleasantly surprised because I didn't realise that would happen. So I planted them in the garden. This was in Sydney, Australia, hot humid summers, frost free winters. No squirrels.

Alas, we sold that house and moved on, so I don't know how they're doing now. But if anyone wants to try growing them, maybe buy a bunch, enjoy them in the vase and plant them out later.

angelacarter i live in Kansas. although a few mild winters, they are not annuals. Yes, they do get stragly looking when blooming but i have cut mine back and they come back the next year and life blooms again.

Ros Ette i love the plants.first i see it,i love it with the great design plant

Aaron Reddick Always looks like crap after about 2 months when they start to 'bolt' and grow leggy. Also, at $4-7 a pop it's a lot of buck for only two months of bang. But hey if you really want to impress the neighborhood with your ability to squander money go for it!

janadiane I got mine at a fall sale at my local nursery for 3.00. I planted it in late Oct. when we still were having warm days here, in zone 8a. It is Jan. 16th in a record low temp year. Many nights in the twenties. My ornamental cabbage is still one of the bright spots in my patio garden. It looks wonderful with some dark purple ajuga which is beautiful year 'round. I will try to start some from seed so I can have more next winter.

wantsideas I treat this as an annual here in Atlanta. When it gets warmer it gets yellow flowers (weedy). In the dead of winter this is a nice punch of color. Haven't seen the white ones much mostly the purple. This plant is all about the color and foliage.