Attractive Vegetables That Double as Ornamental Plants

Are you looking for attractive vegetables to grow in your garden? Why choose between beauty and function when you can have both? While traditional vegetable patches serve their purpose, many gardeners are now discovering the world of ornamental vegetables that can enhance the aesthetic appeal of any garden while providing delicious, nutritious harvests.

Key Takeaways

• Attractive vegetables combine beauty and function in one plant
• Growing ornamental vegetables saves garden space while enhancing visual appeal
• Edible flowers like nasturtiums and daylilies are among the most versatile and attractive vegetables
• Canna lilies and dahlias produce edible tubers while providing stunning blooms
• Ornamental vegetables can be incorporated into ornamental borders and containers
• Most attractive vegetables are easy to grow from seed and require minimal maintenance
• Growing ornamental vegetables from seed is safer than purchasing pre-treated tubers

Are you looking for ornamental veg to grow in your garden? Why choose between beauty and function when you can have both? While traditional vegetable patches serve their purpose, many gardeners are now discovering the world of attractive vegetables that can enhance the aesthetic appeal of any garden while providing delicious, nutritious harvests.

Key Takeaways

• Attractive vegetables combine beauty and function in one plant
• Growing ornamental vegetables saves garden space while enhancing visual appeal
• Edible flowers like nasturtiums and daylilies are among the most versatile and attractive vegetables
• Canna lilies and dahlias produce edible tubers while providing stunning blooms
• Attractive vegetables can be incorporated into ornamental borders and containers
• Most ornamental veg are easy to grow from seed and require minimal maintenance
• Growing ornamental vegetables from seed is safer than purchasing pre-treated tubers

Are you looking for attractive vegetables to grow in your garden? Why choose between beauty and function when you can have both? While traditional vegetable patches serve their purpose, many gardeners are now discovering the world of attractive vegetables that can enhance the aesthetic appeal of any garden while providing delicious, nutritious harvests.

The Beauty of Attractive Vegetables

Most people think flowers belong in ornamental beds and vegetables belong hidden away in the back garden. However, many attractive vegetables deserve a prominent place in your landscape. These stunning edible plants combine visual appeal with culinary value, transforming ordinary gardens into extraordinary spaces.

Attractive vegetables can revolutionize your gardening approach, blending practicality with visual delight. Here’s a collection of exceptionally ornamental vegetables and edible plants that will make your garden stand out while filling your dinner plate with homegrown goodness.

Top Attractive Vegetables for Your Garden

Canna Lily (Canna indica)

Among the most striking and attractive vegetables, Canna Lily makes a bold statement with its tropical foliage and vibrant flowers. Don’t let the name concern you—unlike true lilies, Canna Lilies are completely safe and edible. These attractive vegetables produce edible tubers that can be prepared similarly to potatoes.

For best results, grow these ornamental vegetables from seed rather than purchasing tubers from garden centers. This approach not only produces sizable tubers in the first season but also helps avoid the incurable canna virus. Plant these attractive vegetables in sunny locations to maximize their visual impact.

Dahlia

Dahlias aren’t just beautiful flowers—they’re also ornamental vegetables with edible tubers. These versatile plants produce stunning blooms throughout summer and autumn while developing starchy tubers underground that can be boiled or roasted like potatoes.

When growing dahlias as attractive vegetables, select varieties with larger flowers, as they typically yield larger tubers. Different varieties offer varying flavours, from sweet and delicious to more subtle tastes. These attractive vegetables are easily grown from seed and add incredible visual interest to any garden.

Purslane (Portulaca oleracea)

This forgotten superfood deserves a place in your collection of ornamental veg. Purslane features thick, succulent leaves with a refreshing flavour reminiscent of green peas with hints of apple. These attractive vegetables are perfect for filling gaps in rock gardens while providing nutritious greens for your table.

Purslane ranks among the most versatile and attractive vegetables, suitable for salads, stews, stir-fries, and soups. These ornamental veg are nutritional powerhouses, containing omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins A, C, E, and B, plus essential minerals including magnesium, calcium, potassium, and iron.

Love-lies-bleeding (Amaranthus caudatus)

With its dramatic cascading flower clusters, typically deep red, Amaranthus caudatus stands out among attractive vegetables. This fast-growing annual brings striking visual interest to any garden. All varieties of amaranthus qualify as ornamental veg with edible components.

The young, tender leaves of these attractive vegetables can be prepared like spinach, making them perfect for various culinary applications. These ornamental vegetables grow quickly and easily, adding vertical interest and rich colour to your garden design.

Nasturtium

Nasturtiums rank among the most versatile and attractive vegetables, offering fast growth and brilliant blooms ranging from pale yellow to deep red. These ornamental vegetables are entirely edible, with a distinctively peppery flavour that enlivens summer meals. The pea-sized seeds can even be pickled as a caper substitute.

These attractive vegetables work wonderfully as colourful ground cover or trailing from containers. Their bright flowers add visual appeal to borders while providing edible blooms for garnishing salads and plates.

Daylily (Hemerocallis)

Not to be confused with toxic true lilies, daylilies are attractive vegetables with multiple edible parts. While both the thin tubers and leaves are edible, the flower buds are particularly delicious, offering a sweet lettuce-like flavour that’s delightful when battered and fried.

When selecting daylilies as ornamental vegetables, stick with traditional varieties rather than newer hybrids, which may potentially be toxic. These attractive vegetables have been consumed for centuries and make excellent additions to ornamental borders.

Pineapple Guava (Feijoa sellowiana)

This silver-leaved shrub produces striking red and pink fuchsia-like flowers followed by aromatic, guava-flavored fruit. While technically a fruit, it deserves mention among attractive vegetables for its ornamental value in edible landscapes.

Feijoa grows easily from seed and thrives in southern parts of the UK. To ensure good fruit production from these attractive vegetables, plant several specimens together as they aren’t self-fertile. Place these ornamental veg in direct sunlight with open canopies to maximize pollination.

Growing Tips for Attractive Vegetables

When incorporating attractive vegetables into your garden design, consider these essential tips:

1. Strategic placement: Position attractive veg where their ornamental qualities can be fully appreciated.
2. Companion planting: Many ornamental vegetables benefit from being planted alongside complementary species.
3. Succession planting: Plan for continuous visual interest by staggering plantings of attractive vegetables.
4. Organic practices: Avoid chemicals when growing ornamental vegetables intended for consumption.
5. Proper spacing: Give attractive veg adequate room to develop their distinctive forms.

Important Warning

Always grow attractive vegetables from seed rather than purchasing tubers directly from garden centres, as commercially sold tubers are typically treated with chemicals. This precaution ensures your ornamental veg remain safe for consumption while maintaining their ornamental appeal.

Conclusion

Attractive vegetables offer the perfect solution for gardeners seeking both beauty and utility. By incorporating these edible ornamentals into your landscape, you’ll create a garden that delights the eye while providing fresh, healthy produce for your table. Whether you’re an experienced gardener or just starting out, these ornamental vegetables deserve a place in your planting plans.

Canna Lily

Canna indica

I had to double-check this one. Any mention of ‘lily’ makes me think of the warnings my parents gave me about poisonous plants. However, the Canna Lily is not a true Lily and is completely safe. The root of the canna (one of my favourite ornamental flowering plants) is edible! They make a powerful statement in any sunny garden with their large tropical leaves and bright showy flowers. Once they have finished dazzling the senses, you can dig them up and eat them. Tubers can be cooked as you would a potato and have a similar flavour.

Although you can buy tubers from most garden centres, canna indica is extremely easy to grow from seed. Each plant will produce huge tubers in the first season. I would recommend growing from seed to avoid the canna virus. There is no cure for this virus and it will weaken and eventually kill the plant. It cannot be passed down by seed.

More information about growing Canna Lilies.

Dahlia

Yes, dahlias! Those pretty flowers that adorn many gardens throughout the land are edible. The starchy tubers can be boiled or roasted and treated as you would potatoes.

They are best grown from seed. Dahlias are very easy to grow and will flower all summer and into the autumn before the first frost. Choose varieties that have the largest flowers as they will usually result in the largest tubers. You will need to experiment with different varieties for the best flavour. Some may prove to be sweet and delicious and others bland.

More information about Dahlias – growing and protecting.

Purslane

Portulaca oleracea
Got a spare patch in the rock garden? Fill it with super-food purslane! It’s unfortunate that in modern times, we have forgotten this incredible plant. It was a prized plate filler in 16th-century Europe. The thick, succulent leaves have a rather refreshing flavour similar to green peas with a tangy hint of apple. If you prefer a milder flavour, harvest later in the day when the sour malic acid is at its lowest in the leaves.

Purslane can be added to salads, stews, and stir-fries and is also great in soups. It is high in omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins A, C, and E, vitamin B, magnesium, calcium, potassium, and iron.

Love-lies-bleeding

Amaranthus caudatus
I grew this one as a child. A highly attractive, (usually deep red) plant with downward millet-like flower clusters. Very easy to grow. All varieties of amaranthus are edible.

Amaranthus is a fast-growing annual and can be the star of any West Indian meal. Eat the young tender leaves as you would spinach.

Nasturtium

The Nasturtium is a flowering plant that features a lot of my dinner plate during the summer months. It is an excellent and fast-growing annual scrambler with brightly coloured flowers from pale yellow through to deep red. All of the plants can be eaten and is decidedly peppery. You can also pickle the pea-sized seeds as an alternative to capers.

Daylily

Hemerocallis

Again, not to be confused in any way with actual Lillies (Lillium) which are highly toxic. Daylilies are edible. Some varieties are better in flavour than others. It is possible to eat both the thin tubers and leaves, but I like the flower buds. They taste like sweet lettuce and can be battered and fried.

In saying this, there is general confusion over the classification of the Daylily over whether or not it is truly edible. People have been eating it for hundreds, if not thousands of years. However, a safe practice would be to avoid newer hybrids, some of which may be toxic.

Pineapple Guava

Feijoa sellowiana
This attractive silver-leaved shrub will bear red and pink fuchsia-like flowers, followed by small, aromatic, guava-flavoured fruit. It comes from the mountains of southern Brazil and is part of the guava family.

Feijoa can be easily grown from seed and is fully hardy in southern parts of the UK. To get a good crop, you will need to plant several Feijoas together as they are not self-fertile. Plant in direct sunlight and ensure that the canopy of the plant is left open to maximise pollination. I would also recommend a little bit of hand pollination to increase fruit production. Feijoa makes for a good container plant and is quickly growing.

Frequently Asked Questions About Attractive Vegetables

Are ornamental veG harder to grow than regular vegetables?

Most attractive vegetables are actually quite easy to grow. Many, like nasturtiums and purslane, are particularly low-maintenance and thrive with minimal care. Some attractive vegetables, such as canna lilies and dahlias, require similar care to their ornamental counterparts but reward you with both beauty and edible harvests.

How can I incorporate ornamental vegetables into my existing garden design?

Attractive vegetables can be seamlessly integrated into borders, containers, and even hanging baskets. Try planting nasturtiums along garden edges, use amaranthus as a dramatic backdrop, or incorporate daylilies into perennial borders. Many ornamental vegetables also work well in container arrangements on patios or balconies.

Do attractive vegetables produce smaller yields than traditional vegetables?

While some attractive vegetables may produce smaller edible yields than plants bred specifically for food production, they compensate by offering dual benefits. The visual appeal of ornamental veg means you can grow them in prominent locations, potentially allowing you to cultivate more plants overall compared to hiding them in a dedicated vegetable patch.

Are all parts of attractive vegetables edible?

Each attractive veg has specific edible parts. With nasturtiums, the entire plant is edible, while with dahlias and canna lilies, only the tubers are typically consumed. Always research which parts of ornamental vegetables are safe to eat, and remember that some ornamental varieties may have been bred for looks rather than flavour.

When is the best time to plant ornamental vegetables in the UK?

Most attractive vegetables should be planted after the last frost in spring. However, some specific timing considerations apply: canna lilies and dahlias are typically started indoors 4-6 weeks before the last frost, while fast-growing annuals like nasturtiums and amaranthus can be directly sown once soil temperatures warm up.

How do I harvest attractive vegetables without damaging their ornamental appeal?

With leafy attractive vegetables like amaranthus and purslane, harvest outer leaves first to maintain the plant’s form. For flowers like nasturtiums, regular picking actually encourages more blooms. With tuber-producing ornamental vegetables like dahlias and canna lilies, you’ll typically harvest at the end of the growing season when the plants have finished displaying.

Can I save seeds from my ornamental vegetables for next year?

Yes, most attractive vegetables produce viable seeds that can be saved for future planting. Allow a few flowers to go to seed, collect when dry, and store in a cool, dry place. This practice is especially recommended for attractive vegetables, as it ensures you’re growing chemical-free plants for consumption.

Warning

Do not eat tubers purchased directly from garden centres as they will have been washed in chemicals before the sale. I would always recommend growing varieties from seed.

If you would like to read more on this topic, then please visit the RHS website. Also, you can read this article on Non-toxic plants for child-safety I wrote a while back.