Bonnie Plants, a national plant wholesaler out of Alabama, hosts a yearly cabbage-growing competition for third-graders across the U.S. Teachers sign up their classrooms to participate in the National Bonnie Plants Third Grade Cabbage Program; each classroom receives O.S. cross cabbage starters, known for their ability to produce large heads. At the end of the growing season, teachers choose a winner based on size and appearance. Names of the winners are put into a lottery, and one is pulled for each participating state.

In 2017, 30,722 kids from Pennsylvania participated, and the winner for largest and best-looking cabbage was grown by McKenna Morgan, of Mount Lebanon. It weighed in at 14 pounds. Morgan and other state winners will receive a $1,000 scholarship to go toward their education from Bonnie Plants.

The Third Grade Cabbage Program was founded in 1996 with the hope of getting children involved in agriculture and gardening. Cabbage was selected as an homage to the company's beginnings in 1918 when cabbage was its first profitable plant.