Keeping a beautiful big vegetable garden isn’t for everyone. Sometimes the only space available is the garden beds. You may also want to infiltrate some edible plants into your layout on the front of the house. All this, just to circumvent the regulations which prohibit front-facing vegetable gardens!
In a desire to keep the aesthetic side of the arrangements, it is interesting to choose edible plants which are more decorative. For example, let’s face it, a tomato plant does not always have good support or an interesting habit.
Vegetables with Style and Personality
One of the vegetables that, in my opinion, is of great ornamental interest is cabbage. More specifically, kale. First of all, it is a plant that grows vertically, contrary to the general image we have of a headed cabbage. The foliage is generally very curly, which provides an interesting and different texture. Then, depending on the variety, the color of the foliage is generally bluish, sometimes a beautiful steel blue. This is the case with one of my favorites, ‘Nero di Toscana’ kale, also called ‘Black Tuscany’ cabbage. In good conditions, the plant can reach 90 cm in height. ‘Black Magic’ cabbage has a similar look with slightly darker foliage. For soft green foliage, the ‘Darkibor’ variety is also worth remembering. Moreover, its very cut foliage makes the best kale chips ! Finally, I consider that ‘Redbore’ cabbage is also a very interesting plant. It is rather purple in summer, but it turns a beautiful dark red color in autumn.
Another plant that looks great in flower beds is peppers and chili peppers, especially the varieties that bear small fruits. Last year, I grew a small one with a very particular flavor, the ‘Iracéma Biquinho’ pepper. It produces small, bright red, drop-shaped fruits. The plant forms a beautiful rounded bush covered with red fruits. And it’s a very mild tasting pepper. For lovers of very hot peppers, just about anything with the word “Aji” in its name represents ornamental interest in addition to surprising the taste buds! Finally, we should take a closer look at asparagus. Yes, asparagus. Of course, in spring, the coveted young shoots are not very decorative. On the other hand, the finely cut foliage is spectacular. The plant can reach over 150cm in height, making it a good plant to place at the bottom of sunny flowerbeds. Asparagus goes particularly well with large varieties of hardy roses, such as the ‘Hansa’ rose bush.
Finally, with its beautiful large yellow flowers in umbels, fennel is also an interesting decorative element to insert in flower beds. A fennel plant can reach between one and 2 meters high. It is an erect plant with fine, slightly bluish foliage. When in flower, the plant attracts many pollinators. And if you’re lucky, you’ll be able to harvest a few fennel “bulbs”, which are actually the swollen base of the plant.
This gives a general idea of some of the possibilities. There are many other vegetables that are very pretty! And of course, we can’t stop with vegetables…
Herbs in the Border
Certain herbs are also very interesting in the ornamental garden. Personally, I find that curly parsley has all the qualities to be planted at the edge of flower beds. Dark green and uniform, it forms pretty cushions. Obviously, thyme has already found its refuge, because there are several ornamental varieties, such as woolly thyme.
To a certain extent, if conditions are favorable, common sage, with its grayish foliage, is also interesting for adding play of foliage colors.
Like fennel, dill is also a beautiful all-purpose plant that can be broadcast in a bed of mixed perennials, for example.
And finally, chives, everyone’s favorite, have the qualities to be a star plant in flower beds, especially when they are in flower!
It should be remembered that the majority of these edible plants with decorative qualities are full sun plants. Some tolerate partial shade. Shade will always be a little extra challenge for edible plant lovers.
You can easily visualize all these plants coexisting with daylilies, echinacea and spirea. In general, edible plants have a lot to contribute in the play of colors and textures of foliage and they can form paintings that are very pleasing to the eye, but also pleasant for the tummy!
Chard! I was about to comment on it, but you covered it at the end. Rhubarb is nice also, but leaves a void when harvested. Many years ago, I grew corn in my front garden as ornamental grass. Neighbors were not so keen on it, it was not so pretty, and because I put it in small and crowded clumps, it did not perform well.
Thank you for this perfect-length article to get me started with vegetables as decoration in the front yard! It’s the only place that I have full sun, and the large expanse of lawn is so boring. The idea about lilies was especially useful, as I have an “ancient” double orange lily from 1965 that keeps multiplying like crazy. Adding a border of some veggies and herbs will help me to create a nice bed, rather than just a bunch of lily clumps! (Obviously, I’m not terribly imaginative, so your examples are like gold nuggets to me!)
I love the herbs clustered together in the border. That’s going into my plan. Thanks!