Where do you put flowers in your potager?

13 years ago

Where do you plant flowers in your potager? Do you put them in a separate area or mix them in with the vegetables? Do you have a lot of flowers or just a few? Are they perennials, annuals or both? Do you have any roses?

I had roses, but I'm moving them all into other areas, due to the deer. However, I do have perennials on the outside beds, so I put perennial flowers in with the blueberry bushes, raspberries, strawberries and herbs. I might add some asparagus this year, too. For flowers, I have coneflowers, daisies, clematis, phlox, pincushion flowers, bee balm, and I add a few annuals for extra color.

In the front beds and middle beds, I have annual vegetables and herbs, with annual flowers all mixed together, for color, to shade the weeds...and keep the deer out of my veggies. I use a lot of alyssum, to keep down the weeds and keep the ground shaded, which means less watering. I also love zinnias, marigolds, nasturtiums, stock, evening stock, sunflowers, snapdragons and cosmos.

On the arches I have clematis and sweet peas, except in the front, where I'm using climbing beans...with purple flowers. The arbor has clematis too, but I'm not sure what I want to put in the beds, since I moved the roses. More space :)

What about your garden?

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (6)

riverfarm
13 years ago
I plant flowers in my potager, often along one row, and always at the beginning of each row by the brick path. Among my tomato tripods I alternate marigolds, Victoria blue salvia, and basil. I also plant zinnias and other flowers around the greenhouse. It gives the garden a really nice look.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:136651}}
peachymomo
13 years ago
I like to have annual flowers mixed in liberally with the vegetables, a nice mix that attracts pollinators and other beneficial insects. Borage, cosmos, cleome, nasturtium, sunflowers, etc. I also like to have a perennial area near the vegetable beds, a spot for salvia, penstamon, chives, lavender, rosemary, etc. And of course I have to have some roses planted here and there. I keep my fruiting plants in a separate area because I'm pretty serious about growing fruit and so I like to give them plenty of space.

In general I like to have lots of flowers scattered about providing color and attracting insects all around the garden. I like a wild look, slightly unkempt and with a few pretty weeds allowed to grow here and there.
Related Discussions
What flowers do you grow in your potager?
Q
Comments (18)
Yep, that's the same info I have read before, celticgarden. Definitely going to try Hidcote this year in pots, and maybe even try to overwinter them indoors . I'm still working on incorporating more flowers into my potager plans--so far I've given up a few precious veggie square feet to Roman Chamomile (said to be a great pest deterrent, we'll see!), plenty of marigolds of course, and some nasturtiums. I think the rest of the space in my raised beds will be used for true edibles though, from herbs to veg, asparagus (own bed) and strawberries (own bed). The rest of my flowers are going to end up going directly in-ground in several places, with a few in pots for some height and added interest. I kind of feel like I need more color, but then again I am planting a bunch of interestingly colored edibles...purple queen bush beans, a few different peppers, 4 types of heirloom tomatoes of different colors, both red and green cabbages in a checkerboard, several colored mesclun green mixes including an all-red one I'm really excited about (Valentine), and of course the lovely textures and colors of an all-herb bed.
...See More
What new flowers are you planting in your Potager this year?
Q
Comments (9)
I am trying Kiss Me Over The Garden Gate again. So far no germination. It needs a cold period to germinate apparently. I don't think we get cold enough in Atlanta to get it going! But I have had it sent to me, and it grows well in heat and humidity as long as it gets enough moisture. Helenium again, also needs cold to germinate. It is perennial and gorgeous. I have an orange. There is now a beautiful double yellow variety on the market I would love to get my hands on. It is hard to find here. Not many people grow it. It did beautifully for me last year!! I just added some tiny little "Tiny Hot" peppers to the potager. Their colors are the rainbow in little tiny marbles! Between them will go Solan or Dwarf Tiger Eye marigolds which just fly through heat and humidity like no other marigold I've ever grown!! I planted seedlings of those (they re-seed into the pebble paths of the cottage garden). Some dwarf creeping zinnias will also go in. I'm mainly looking to add flowers to the perimeter of the beds, and keep the interiors colorful with the veggies. I planted Spiranthes too. Also called Eyeball or Toothache plant. They are red and yellow and would look great with the marigolds. Sunday I plant to begin doing a lagsana bed adjacent to the raised beds of the potager area...a friend is moving and giving me rose after rose...and I have some shrubs...something to hide the chain link. GGG
...See More
What decorative items do you have in your potager?
Q
Comments (31)
I wonder if that store just started carrying them. Cuz it sure didn't show up in any of the searches I did. Not that it would have mattered. It's just like the store I bought them from. I wanted to find that Oregon sculptor and buy directly from her at a lesser price. Or find something similar at a fraction of the price! But your friend is very good at internet searching!!!
...See More
Do you share your potager?
Q
Comments (4)
No, no, no...well a little. LOL. The potager is very much of a meditative, personal space for me. I love having my morning coffee at the little cafe table I have in there, or simply sitting on the stone edge of one of the beds to admire the nasturtium flower that surprised me this morning. My 6.5 year old thinks it's an awesome place to leap and run and drive his much more low-key, peace-needing mother bonkers! He does love his mint and his magic strawberries--when he occasionally slows down long enough to pick them. I've given a few people tours, and most seem to admire it, but few truly "get" it. It's totally for my own enjoyment, and I share it as I must share the last bite of my dessert with my little boy. As a mom, I do it willingly, but sometimes I secretly want that bite for myself! Lisa
...See More
wirosarian_z4b_WI
13 years ago
If you have a very design controlled potager like some you see in those "pretty coffee table garden picture books" then you would want to plant them where the design tells you to put them. But if your potager is informal like mine, I put them where ever I can find a spot after the veggies & herbs are planted. 2 exceptions, I have some mini roses that are perennials so they stay in the same spot plus I like to grow some glads & they need some support to keep from blowing over in the wind so they are planted together for installing the support sticks.
ali-b
13 years ago
riverfarm-- I have potager envy. More pics please!

I group my perennials together. I have a bed up front with aster, coneflower, yarrow, blazing star, chives, bee balm, speedwell. And, I moved out the catmint and added two landscape roses. I also have a center circle with mini-roses and lavender.

I usually mix in some annuals like marigolds, zinnias, dwarf sunflowers, amaranth, borage with the veggies. This year I'm trying some nasturtiums too. Keeping the annual veggies and flowers together lets me clear the entire bed at the end of the season.
nancyjane_gardener
13 years ago
Lets see, I do the marigolds mixed in with the tomatoes.
Then I have a small( 1'x however long the bed is) of annuals at the end of most beds.
I have pots and long planters all along the fence (can't have climbers due to goats next door), and as many flowers as I can in the herb garden.
On the outskirts right now are the most FAB irises! Purple and yellow, white and purple and white. OH MY SO PRETTY!!!!!
Nancy
riverfarm
13 years ago
Ali, I try to keep my flowers to annuals too, in my rows, but I have a flower garden around a small brick patio next to my greenhouse, and those are perennials. I plant nasturtiums in among my squash because it's supposed to deter squash bugs. I intersperse radishes for the same reason. Here's a photo taken a couple of years ago before we got our new greenhouse; the one you see to the right is an old Rion.

{{gwi:136649}}

Where do you put flowers in your potager?

Comments (6)

riverfarm

peachymomo

Related Discussions

wirosarian_z4b_WI

ali-b

nancyjane_gardener

riverfarm

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US