In many yards, you’ll find flower beds and a veggie patch and never the twain shall meet. The resulting edible garden was much more like a flower garden than a raised bed with rows of tomatoes.
These “edimental” (a portmanteau of edible and ornamental) plants popped up in several other gardens at Chelsea, including U.K. garden designer and writer Manoj Malde’s design that included pineapple, guava, fennel, oregano, thyme, and cardoons.
Artichokes are basically super-sized thistles.
Photograph by Marie Viljoen, from To Eat or to Admire: Growing Artichokes for Food and Flowers.
Artichoke (Cynara cardunculus)
“They make a strong statement with their bursts of spring fruit, which if left unharvested, turn into magnificent summer flowers.” Manoj, who also loves artichokes, recommends planting them in the back of a border as they grow to five feet (1.5 meters) tall.
Photograph by Clive Nichols, courtesy of Harry Holding Studio.
For more on chives, see Gardening 101: Chives. Perennial herbs are among the most common edimentals you’ll find sprinkled into the flower garden, but chives are a stand-out for Holding.
Chive (Allium schoenoprasum)
Fava beans are best grown early fall or late winter.
Fava Bean (Vicia faba)
Photograph by Marie Viljoen, from The New Vegetable Garden: 7 Essentials to Grow (and Eat) in Autumn.
“Fava beans are another favorite vegetable to grow because not only are they delicious and packed with protein, they are beautiful in the garden,” says Kranz.
King’s Spear (Asphodeline lutea)
Photograph by Andrey Zharkikh via Flickr.
King’s Spear, an ancient edible.
“Prized in ancient Greek times and little known today, King’s Spear is one of our favorite and least appreciated edimentals,” says Holding, who notes that the yellow-flowered perennial is entirely edible, including the nutty-flavored roots, which were once considered a delicacy.
Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa)
Photograph by Naturalflow via Flickr.
Parsnip flowers are umbel-shaped.
“Parsnips grow very upright and tall, looking statuesque. On top of the tall stems you get the most beautiful yellow umbellifers,” says Malde.
The seeds of love-in-a-mist are edible.
Photograph by It’s No Game via Flickr.
Love-in-a-Mist (Nigella damascene ‘Miss Jekyll’)
Love in a Mist has delicate wispy looking foliage and the upright stems produce beautiful sky blue flowers and there are other varieties that bloom in white and pinks The plant also produces unusual whimsical...
...seed pods that provide interest after the blossoms fade and edible seeds also known as black sesame black cumin or onion seeds which have a smokey taste reminiscent of the flavors its alternate names suggest
Photograph by Rachel Weill, courtesy of Pine House Edible Gardens.
A ‘Scarlet Sentinel’ apple tree in bloom.
‘Scarlet Sentinel’ Apple (Malus domestica)
“This is one of our favorite backyard apple trees because it stays in a lovely columnar shape as well as grows delicious sweet-tart apples,” says Lonna Lopez, a garden designer at Pine House Edible Gardens, a firm located in the Bay Area.
Photograph by Lonna Lopez.
The enormous leaves of the ‘Ice Cream’ banana plant add a tropical vibe to gardens.
Banana plant ‘Ice Cream’ (Musa acuminata ‘Blue Java’)
“Ice Cream banana is our favorite edible banana to grow in the Bay Area. Not only is the large leaf shape helpful in the garden design to break up finer textures, the Ice Cream banana is very productive and delicious,” says Lopez.