I admit - there were many things I did not understand about Seattle when I first moved here. The rain, the lack of a decent public transportation system aside from buses, the seeming unwillingness to dance at shows, and the almost legendary steely Northwestern reserve. While I have come to grips with most of these features of the Emerald City (having friends from the East Coast to whom I can whine helps), there's one peculiarity that I've never quite understood: ornamental kale. Yes, here in the PCNW, we like to grow kale - not simply something to be savored in a pot of greens, but as a plant that can adorn our summer gardens. Flowerpots surrounding many local coffee shops are likely to include purple kale, but it was not until yesterday that I fully understood the pervasiveness of this relative of the cabbage family.
It was a beautiful day in Seattle, and I wandered around downtown, enjoying the sunshine and the throngs of tourists. I found myself in Pike Place Market, and, as is my wont, I could not leave without buying some flowers (pictured below).
A close-up of the beautiful bouquet I bought.Looking closer, I noticed something unusual about the greenery surrounding the bouquet.
Hmm, what is that green stuff near the bottom of this bouquet?
It's green and curly...looks like kale to me.My fears were confirmed when I got home and took apart the arrangement...the greenery was, indeed, kale.
Um, shouldn't this stuff be cooking on my stove instead of gracing my flowers?Once again, the Pacific Northwest has foiled my attempts to understand its subtleties.
I have been just as baffled by kale for the past couple of years as you have been. It's not just a NW thing, though; there was a Sudden Kale Flowering around about 1999 in the Midwest -- this, IIRC, preceeded the Great Daffodil Awakening by about a year, in case you're keeping track of floral trends. I remember seeing the stuff in the winter -- the harsh Midwest winter! Like rhubarb, nothing can kill the stuff. And maybe people like it cuz it gives you color in the winter months. Unlike rhubarb, however, kale is less unruly... and maybe that's another reason people like it. Take the muffler shop in Wallingford, for example, with it's little bed of brilliant purple kale. The burly muffler people can tend to important matters of automotive aspiration and not worry that the beauty of their garage will get sullied through neglect. Had they planted rhubarb, they'd have to take time out to weed it from the rooftop and waiting room furniture. On the other hand: kale... innocent, unassuming, polite kale.
But I'm still with you in your confusion, though... it's not like we get a winter, thus necessitating hardy kale, in these parts. And, yeah, planting kale in the summer??? I blame it on NASCAR... what with it's inexplicable popularity and that Cale Yarborough fellow to whom it gave a forum. There must be a connection.
Maybe if you wrote a sonnet to ornamental kale, you might better appreciate its place in our contemporary culture?
the worst thing about ornamental kale (as this is one of my top 5 pet peeves) is that it doesn't even look nice. i put ornamental kale in the same category as those brown ornamental grass poofs that look like really hairy dogs (take a walk down boylston btwn denny and olive and check out the east side of the street by the high-end apt buildings for an example). both seem more like gardening mistakes than anything else. maybe we should make a movement toward ornamental broccoli.
ooooooh, and I love the passive-aggressive way of slipping the kale in with the flowers ... so, very, Seattle (dominant mode of interaction among locals, I've noticed in my seven years here).