Great decorative edible combos

[ottawagardener]

Thought we could share with each other what works when using edibles in landscaping. A few pictures to start.


I love the airy fall flowers of black eyed susan and echinacea floating around the heavy leaves of kale. I like using kale a lot. Depending on the variety it makes a great edge, focal or background plant.


Lemon balm, reddish orach, red leafed elderberry lovage with nonedible iris. I think this combination would look equally lovely with daylily. The popping yellow highlights the darker leaves in the mix. a lush mess of self sowing greens makes for a beautiful carpet around fruiting bushes, especially if cut back frequently. I leave the background plants to go to seed and replenish the garden.

I also like chicory and dill flower, borage with calendula, chives around roses, actual kale or cabbage replacing flowering kale, hot peppers in the borders etc...


Crummy picture but nice combo of Fatali peppers and peach melba nasturtiums (both tender perennials).



The classic rainbow chard with an edging of hot peppers in complementary colours. Experimental farm.

More to come.

[Penny]

Wow Telsing......that looks amazing.

[plantsnobin]

Looking forward to more photos, those look great. Thanks for sharing these.

[ottawagardener]

Sage and celariac as a border with amaranth in the middle - experimental farm.


Kale - again yup - used as edging in a client's garden. This is a mixed leaf form.


While we're on kale, here is young seakale planted with lavender. It is a wonderful combination.


Angelica flowers resonating with the similar flowerheads of lovage. 'Lilywhite' seakale as grew in this bed - experimental farm.


I really love the coarse foliage of horseradish, here with the finer foliage of daylily.

[ottawagardener]

And some more then you guys share yours!


The always pretty herbs sage and oregano (golden)


Lots of edibles in this picture including tree onions, mallows, and some ornamentals namely columbine.

[bluelacedredhead]

Love the pics, Telsing. Thanks for sharing.
There are some edibles in amongst the perennials here as well. Now I did not plant them. And since 2009 was our first year here, I spent most of the season trying to identify flowers?? But I started an herb garden on the edge of the perennial bed. And where there was one red currant in beside roses, with luck next year, there will be two as I got at least one branch to put down roots before winter.

[ceara]

Beautiful! That's the way it should be. All the colors and scents and foliage shapes.

I don't have pics, but I allow Johnny-Jump-Ups (violas) go wherever they choose and last year they surrounded the kale and Rainbow chard. And Malva Zebrina was in front of dwarf peas, helping to hold them up.

I'd love to try Sea Kale one of these days. Saw blanched/forced forms on a video one time and watched people eat it and drooled. ;D

[iva]

I'm also very excited to try sea kale someday. And orach. And other fine looking plants I didn't know were edible.
I plant ornamentals in my veggie garden each year, but I never did it the other way around. After seeing these beautiful pics I might just do that this year...

[Penny]

Everything is so pretty.....that you almost hesitate to eat it...almost!!

[plantsnobin]

There are peach trees, dianthus, roses, bee balm, asclepias, alliums, thymes, lemon balm and too many other things to name here. Surprising how many things are edible when you start studying it. Though for the most part I only visually enjoy my garden. I did start nibbling here and there last year.

[ottawagardener]

Did I mention that I absolutely love your garden lately Karen.

I suspect that part of the reason is that many of our ornamentals had their origins as pot herbs and medicinals. I wish that I could grow a peach tree like that. I am going to try a technique that some guy Michel knows does: making peach bushes that will be more protected by natural snow cover.

Anyone else, pictures aren't necessary. I just love hearing about what works.

[plantsnobin]

Telsing, could you tell us more about the experimental farm?

[ottawagardener]

It's not as interesting as it sounds and I have never before seen so many edible plants used in their demonstration grounds. Though not the force it was (or at least not obviously), you will hear reference to Ottawa bred plant material originating from the Experimental Farm in days gone past.

It's now more commonly known as the Museum of Agriculture: www.agriculture.technomuses.ca/

[ottawagardener]

Ceara: I love the idea of propping up peas with malva.

[seedywen]

Am partial to purple.
Actually I'm partial to almost every color

I border one of my perennial flower beds with chives. They bloom early and long. Cut them back and get a second purple bloom, later in the summer. The chives grow near a sprawling purple sage, that now that I know her better, likes to migrate slowly to new ground.

One of my favorite vegetables for interplanting in the same border is Bull's Blood beets, a heritage variety with deep purple foliage.

Different years, contrast the above purples with oranges and yellows from marigolds, cosmos or sometimes switch to pink hues of Picotee cosmos or pastel shades of larkspur.

The photos of the Rainbow and/or Ruby Chard and the tiny peppers was stunning.

As I grow both these plants, maybe it's time to move them, closer together. Also grow Red Orach although it's so tall, have to plan its location more carefully in a border. Might look great behind a large patch of Red monarda, which grows 3-4 foot tall, and wouldn't get too dwarfed.

Interplanting these particular vegetables guarantees that particular foliage color all growing season which is pleasing, especially as various perennials ebb and flow in their flowering periods.

Sorry no pictures. Maybe this year.