Autumn Edibles as Ornamentals

This year’s Autumn Idea Book

Our Autumn Idea Book shipped recently—full of fresh design inspiration and our beautiful plants for fall. Last week we talked about cool weather veggies; this week we’d like to take our discussion a bit further, to include some other tasty produce that features prominently among our décor varieties for the season.

 Deep red, rich burgundy, darkest purple—our autumn edibles in the 6-inch pot represent a wide range of possibilities, design-wise. We find that this versatile size fits in almost anywhere we need to add a touch of drama, from compact garden beds to oversized urns and window boxes to mass plantings. With intriguing textures and shapes, these plants do double-duty as ornamentals for fall—and we always feel that we get our money’s worth from a good-looking plant we can eat.

 ‘Bull’s Blood’ beets

For dramatic deep red foliage we like heirloom ‘Bull’s Blood’ beets—a row of these looks striking at the front of the border. Dark, glossy leaves are dramatic in salads as well, and the beets themselves are at their sweet, crunchy best when harvested young. 

Deep red veins on ‘Red Veined’ sorrel

‘Red Veined’ sorrel is an eye-catching salad green—its lime green leaves are marked like a road map with deep red veins. This plant makes a pretty accent; we mix it with ‘Salad Bowl Red’ lettuce to pick up the red of the veins, both in the landscape and on our dinner plate. It has a mild, lemony flavor.

Brighten up with ‘Bright Lights’

Swiss chard has become one of our favorite ornamental edibles—particularly our ‘Bright Lights’ mix. These plants truly do light up a garden bed or combination planter, with glowing stems in gold, pink, and crimson red. You might find that a few stems are pink and white striped, orange, purple, green, or white, too. 

‘Magenta Sunset’ shows off its neon purple-red stems

‘Magenta Sunset’ is another pretty Swiss chard; it’s a compact variety with neon purple-red stems. Some other favorites are ‘Peppermint’ with pink and white stripes and the radiant ‘Bright Yellow’. We eat Swiss chard just like we do spinach—it’s delicious; plus we’ve heard that eating fresh vegetables in a rainbow of colors packs the greatest punch when it comes to nutrition.

‘Asian Red Komatsuna’ is winter hardy

For intriguing texture, we recommend our décor mustards; they come in a range of unusual shapes. These plants are extremely winter hardy—their vivid reds and greens become more intense as the weather gets cooler. Some particularly frilly varieties include ‘Asian Purple Mizuna’, ‘Scarlet Frill’, and ‘Red Splendor’. We also like ‘Asian Red Komatsuna’—it’s a spinach-mustard hybrid with a mild flavor and smooth, round leaves that are purple-red on top and green with red veins underneath.

‘Bright Yellow’ Swiss chard

Now, these are just a few of the varieties available in the 6-inch size—we have many more, including colorful cabbages and kales. For an up-to-date listing of our ornamental edibles for fall, just check the Availability page of our web site. You’ll find that we also have an assortment of our décor veggies in the 4.5-inch size—suitable for tabletop displays and vegetable gardens—and the 8-inch size, with more mature plants for oversized urns and large, sweeping designs.