Container Ideas: Pair Flowers and Vegetables Together

Do you like to use containers filled with plants to decorate the outside of your home or garden?

Containers filled with beautiful plants are an easy way to spice up the outdoor areas of our homes.  Usually, we fill our pots with one or two different types of flowers.

Have you ever thought of doing something a little different then using the same flower combinations year after year?

One of the newest gardening trends is planting edible plants such as vegetables and herbs alongside flowers in containers.

It may be surprising for some of you to learn that many types of edible plants can also be used as ornamental plants, much like we use flowers in the garden.  I have been growing vegetables and herbs with flowers in my containers for a few years now and it has become one of my favorite container ideas.

On a recent trip to the Midwest, I had the opportunity to visit the Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison, Wisconsin.  I am always excited to see botanical gardens where you can often see examples of the newest gardening trends.  During my visit, I was immediately attracted to the creative use of edible plants coupled with flowering annuals throughout the garden.

Containers in all different sizes and shapes were filled with a collection of colorful leafy vegetables and herbs alongside colorful annuals such as lobelia and violas.

Besides being quite beautiful, a large amount of edible plants can be quite easy to grow in containers.  What’s even better, you can eat them too!

Putting together vegetables, herbs and flowers in the same pot may seem difficult – but is is surprisingly easy to do.  So, if you are looking for some new container ideas, come back on Monday, when we will talk about which edible plants that will grow well in containers.  I’ll also show you some more examples of the beautiful plant combinations that I saw while visiting Olbrich Botanical Gardens.

What types of vegetables and/or herbs would you like to grow in containers?