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Potager Gardens

What is your favorite combo of veggies & flowers?

18 years ago

I have been gathering some ornamental vegetables over the last few years. One of my favorite sources is a kitchen market garden seed catalog from Oregon called Wild Farm

One of my favorite times of the year to combine veggies and flowers is in the cooler months. In the climate I live in, we can grow many vegetables and some flowers all year. Some combos are common, I'm looking for things that are unusual or eyecatching!

Bullsblood beets with Orange Prince calendula is spectacular. The calendula has a black burgundy eye, and the beet is of course amazing burgundy. How about pairing this with an orange stemmed red chard. Ohh, electric!

Purple pansies with flamingo pink stemmed chard?

Or how about the wacky dinosaur kale with it's metalic blue sheen and crinkled leaves? It would look fantastic with the true kelly green of parsley and bright orange pansies...

What combos stand out for you?

GGG

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Comments (5)

angelcub
18 years ago
LOL! GGG, I would think something was wrong if you didn't have kelly green parsley mixed with bright orange pansies. : )

I love, love, love calendula! I haven't seen the Orange Prince, but will look it up. Your combo does sound spectacular!

Until recently I had those dark purple, almost black, pansies growing around my broccoli. The gray-green of the broccoli leaves was a nice contrast to the deeper color of the pansies. But now the broccoli leaves have turned really dark - pretty, but too dark with the pansies so I moved the pansies. They are now in the birdbath in front of the porch.

And last summer I had my Bells of Ireland growing next to cinnamon basil. I loved the color of the basil leaves - almost a burgundy - with the soft, minty green of the bells. I have bells popping up all over that potager bed, so I should be able to repeat the combo if my basil comes back. It appears to be alive, so we'll see.

Diana
girlgroupgirl
Original Author
18 years ago
Bells of Ireland and the basil sound great! What a knockout combo.

At church all our broccoli sprouts came up PURPLE! We don't know why. It's the same stuff we've always grown green...it's gorgeous!

GGG
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memo3
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Glynis, I saw a photo on the net the other night of a raised bed filled with limey green lettuce. The photo was taken looking down upon the lettuce and inside the leaves were little lavendar and yellow violas peeking up. I laughed because it occured to me that anyone just walking by this bed would think it was just another bed of lettuce. One had to stop and examine it to see the surprise tucked down inside. It was very pretty!

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I like to plant my lettuce with alternating green and red leaf varieties. Kind of a checkerboard pattern. I plant them close together so that they fill in nicely. It will last a while if you only harvest the outside leaves. This could be done with red and green cabbage too.

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mrtoad
18 years ago
i have enjoyed reading the post in this thread - you all seem to be professionals - i have a raised bed potager - looking forward to "getting up to speed" - thank for the boost of enthusiasm

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