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Edible Plants in the Ornamental Garden
By Hilda M. Morrill
May 1, 2008
 Our Kousa dogwood berries are delicious, and we are looking to plant blueberry bushes in place of the Burning Bush (Euonymus alatus), which can be invasive.
 Our purple Shiso (Perilla), which reseeds readily, adds a nice accent, although I have yet to try it in a salad. Maybe this summer!
Several years ago, one of my neighbors asked me why I had tomato and cantaloupe melon plants growing in my flower beds out front "where everybody can see them." "Why did you plant them there and not in the back yard in the vegetable garden where they belong?" she asked.
Well, the reality was that I didn't plant them. Their seeds germinated in my compost piles that never got hot enough to kill them.
When I remember, I no longer deposit tomato and melon seeds into the compost bin. But, not because I don't want edibles in our ornamental gardens, but because they are prolific seeders, and their baby plants appear by the hundreds--sometimes even after a long, cold winter.
In fact, it's fun to include edibles on purpose, especially if they are colorful and bring a new dimension to the ornamental gardens.
We garden "organically," so it's not a problem if we decide to pick some of the leaves or flowers to add to our menus.
In fact, it's becoming trendy to incorporate colorful Swiss chards such as "Bright Lights" and pepper varieties into the ornamental borders and to use strawberry plants as groundcovers.
Nasturtium, violas and chives flowers are great additions to salads. Stuffed zucchini and daylily flowers are delicious. Cultivars of sweet potato vines are omnipresent in containers, at least in the Greater Boston Area. Their tuberous roots are edible at the end of the summer.
Of course, edible landscaping is not new. Ancient Persian and Medieval monastic gardens as well as French potagers all included edibles and medicinal herbs as well as fruit and nut trees and berry bushes.
According to National Garden Bureau, the following work well both in the vegetable and ornamental gardens: Basil 'Purple Ruffles', Scarlet Runner Beans, Bronze Fennel, Anise Hyssop, Mesclun, Okra, Creeping Thyme and Rhubarb-to name but a few.
But, beware...especially if there are children and pets in the family. Do some research.
Not all flowers and plants are edible, and some can be downright harmful. Remember that while their colorful ribs are delicious, either raw or in a cooked delicious sauce, rhubarb leaves are poisonous.
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Suggested Reading:
"The Complete Book of Edible Landscaping" by Rosalind Creasy
(Sierra Club Books, 1982)
"The Edible Garden Series" by Rosalind Creasy
(Tuttle Publishing, 2000)
"Edible Flowers: From Garden to Palate" by Cathy Wilkinson Barash
(Fulcrum Publishing, 1993) |
