Southern Breeze 2007 Summer Issue - (Page 26) home OUR BACKYARD The Edible Landscape Today’s vegetable garden gets a striking new makeover that nourishes the soul and your dinner table! story and photography by NORMAN WINTER A bed of sweet potatoes, Red Sensation cordyline, and tomatoes (right) creates a splash of color, as does Red Giant and Primula (below). Or try the colorful new Tequila bell peppers (opposite). T Norman is a frequent garden lecturer and author of Mississippi Gardener’s Guide, Paradise Found: Growing Tropicals in Your Own Backyard and the highly acclaimed Tough-asNails Flowers for the South. here is a new breed of vegetable gardens developing along the Gulf Coast, and the trick is: you may never know you are looking at edibles. Sure you will still find the big expansive vegetable garden every once in a while but the desire for both beauty and tasty veggies is an over riding factor. You may be thinking, I know it’s ok to grow tomatoes and flowers in the backyard landscape but is it ok to grow vegetables in the flower border next to the front entrance? The answer is an unequivocal yes. There are no rules from the standpoint of design. In fact, many of today’s flowers and edibles make for incredible partnerships. In the South, for instance, mustard greens are a staple at the dinner table. Can you imagine having catfish and not having a helping of greens and cornbread? The award-winning variety Red Giant makes a partnership worth photographing when combined with pansies or violas (which are edible too!). The deep burgundy leaves can be harvested when young and tender, and of course they make an extraordinary colorful garnish. This is a cool season garden where lettuces and cabbage could have worked every bit as easy as the mustard greens. The warm season flower border can be just as productive. Notice a long bed with bright green ornamental sweet potatoes; Red Sensation cordyline, one of the hottest plants in the country; Profusion zinnias, Rustic Orange Coleus, but right in the middle were cherry tomatoes. Squashes with their coarse texture and colorful flowers are wonderful as a flower border. Just recently the Purple Majesty ornamental millet was an All American Selections Winner. Though not edible, it shows where the landscape is heading. What would work in its place is one of the red okras—the key ingredient to our beloved gumbo. There is so much more. The new Slim Jim eggplant has purple foliage, iridescent blue flowers, and long tasty fruit for the perfect eggplant Parmesan. Combine it with gold flowers like lantana, rudbeckias, or zinnias. Don’t forget about peppers, those tropical treasures from the West Indies. Whether you like hot ones or sweet bell peppers (like the new colorful Tequila) they would look awesome next to bananas, elephant ears, or philodendrons. 26 s o u t h e r n b re e z e . c o m http://southernbreeze.com
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