My last Wisconsin post was kind of a downer… so I’m switching over to something a little cheerier, ornamental kale & cabbages. I love Annie’s Kale ‘Crane Red’ (next time it’s around I’m planting it). Back when I was in middle school I planted an entire colony of the biggest, craziest, most outrageous decorative cabbages in at least a five mile radius, from seed. It was one of my proudest young gardening moments. Cars would even slow down to check them out and children would stop to count them in awe. During my trip back, I took lots of pictures of Brassica family members including the above, at the Dane County Farmers’ Market (the biggest & best in the country, I may add). Before moving to California, my dream was to buy a little farmette near Madison, where I would grow mass quantities of cut flowers every year to sell at farmer’s markets and weddings.

That could be me in twenty five years, but I don’t think I’d be able to cope with real winters again.

More gratuitous pictures of kale and cabbages I saw while back in Wisconsin.