Cabbage

Around Albuquerque this time of year, there isn't much outdoor color in the gardens.  Blue or red berries remain on a few plants:  barberry, Nandina, Mahonia, and a few others.  But one exception are the cabbages.  Cool season ornamentals, they grow in a compact habit of purples and greens, often variegated.  With the warmth of spring, they will "bolt," sending up a rapidly growing flower stalk that signals their going to seed and expiring.  But for all of winter, they hunker down and bring a bit of color to borders and patio pots, even when dusted with snow.  

Inspired by ornamental cabbage yesterday, I thinly sliced half of a standard grocery store cabbage, shredded some carrots, and cooked up an improvised stir fry for dinner.  Augmented with reconstituted shitaki mushrooms and marinated tofu, it was a success.  Tamari, oyster sauce, rice wine vinegar, and a dollop of maple syrup, the sauce was vegetarian umami at its best.  Served over a bowlful of hot soba noodles, it was a fitting and fulfilling dish for a winter's eve.  Best yet, there are leftovers!

Back to things botanical...

Cabbage is in the Brassicaceae, the mustard family.  They all tend to be cool weather plants.  They are easy to spot with 4 sepals and 4 petals, 6 stamen with 2 longer than the other 4, plus a distinctive type of 2-celled fruit.  

In Albuquerque, the green sprouts of our native rocket, Sisymbrium altissima, begin to appear in late winter.  Their leaves for rosettes and they decorate disturbed soil all over town.  They especially seem to like the borders of irrigation ditches and acequias.  Within a month of so, they will send up their flowering stalks bearing small yellow flowers and soon after, their spikes will be laden with elongated fruits.  As they ripen and dehisc later in the first warm days of spring, the seeds will scatter and begin the cycle again.