Décor Lettuce in 6-Inch Pots

Like kale and mustard, lettuce grows best in cooler weather—that’s when it tastes the sweetest. Many varieties come in eye-catching shades of red and bronze as well as traditional bright green, so it’s a natural choice for fall. Notice the assortment of unique leaf textures: frilly, crinkly, curly, smooth, and shiny. Some show a subtle variegation of red and green or have splashes or speckles of color.

You can see why we’ve added lettuce to our collection of edible décor crops—it’s great for tucking in between other plants as a foliage element in a design. We like to make patterns with solid blocks or rows of red and green, alternating short and slightly taller varieties—similar to the way we use red and white begonias in the landscape. 

Combining colorful varieties is our favorite way to plant lettuce in containers—these gorgeous reds and funky leaf shapes get our creative juices flowing. An all-edible arrangement means we can transform that decorative pot of greens into a tasty bowl of salad with just a couple of snips. Occasionally our designs are simply too pretty to eat—and that’s ok, too.

We grow our décor lettuce in the versatile 6-inch pot. This size works well in containers and vegetable gardens and is equally at home in a landscape bed, where plants can be left to grow into an impressive foliage display.

RED DÉCOR LETTUCE 

All of our red décor lettuce is edible. These selections are especially pretty:

• ‘Lollo Rossa’—tightly curled, frilly leaves are dark copper red, fading to bright green at the stems; a classic Italian lettuce with a mild, refreshing taste
• Romaine ‘Breen’—mini, compact heads of bronze-red leaves; delicious sweet flavor
• ‘Salad Bowl Red’—maroon-red, ruffled leaves form a large, loose head; tender, crisp, and mild tasting; it’s a popular choice for baby salad mixes
• ‘Red Summer Crisp’—shiny red-tinged leaves are slightly puckered, forming a rosette around a crisp green heart; crunchy, tender, and flavorful
• Romaine ‘Truchas’—striking dark red leaves form compact, mini heads of romaine; sweet, crisp, and tender
• ‘Merlot’—one of the darkest lettuces available; frilly, wavy leaves are rich, deep wine red; crisp and bitter-free 

GREEN DÉCOR LETTUCE

Rather than mere salad components, we find that our green décor lettuce selections add great design contrast to our décor reds:

• ‘Bibb’—delicate, tender, loose leaves; heads are pale yellow-green in the center with light green outer leaves; sweet, creamy taste and crunchy texture
• ‘Butterhead’—also known as Boston lettuce; large ruffled outer leaves are bright green with a delicate texture and sweet buttery flavor

VEGETABLE GARDEN CLASSICS

For those who prefer to relegate their lettuce to the vegetable garden, we offer the following culinary blends:

• Simply Salad™ Global Gourmet Blend—adds a mix of Asian greens with exotic leaf shapes to a combination of red and green lettuces; good for stir-fries as well as salads
• Simply Salad™ Alfresco Mix—infused with Mediterranean flair; arugula, endive, and radicchio combined with a mix of red and green lettuces 

In addition to the 6-inch material above, two of our favorite classic lettuce varieties for the vegetable garden are available in the flat-1203:

• Mesclun—a mix of sweet red and green lettuces and tender, zesty greens that grow nicely together for easy cutting
• ‘Buttercrunch’—dark green leaves are thicker than most butterhead-type lettuces; crisp and tender with a satisfying bite