An amazing cabbage

Brassica oleracea 'Joseph Coterel' /Crème Chantilly

I've been at the RHS Show in London today and have learnt a lot and seen a lot of plants, but the one plant that stood out in the show was an incredibly beautiful variegated Brassica, shown by the Botanic Nursery. It has broadly white-margined, crinkled leaves (I suppose it is some sort of kale). The two plants shown had bolted into flower, causing the leaves to be quite widely spaced up the stems, but the effect of the white and shades of grey-green was lovely. The flowers, fortunately, are creamy white, and although a bit gawky the flowering plants are not unattractive.

It is of French origin, and it bears the cultivar name  'Joseph Coterel', but it's being marketed as Crème Chantilly by Hortiflor-Bureau, who are currently selling it for €12. It has been given awards at Courson, from where the Botanic nursery acquired their plants. One has to wonder whether this plant can be maintained for very long in tissue-culture, or whether it will be a short-term wonder, but the foliage is certainly extremely beautiful: just keep the pigeons off it.

Tall flowering plants of Brassica Crème Chantilly