by Veronica Bowman

Created on: January 21, 2012   Last Updated: January 24, 2012

Vegetable gardens are no longer small patches of ground sectioned off in the corner of the yard. They are often incorporated into the landscape plan or into the patio design. Whether you grow your vegetables in a portion of your yard or in containers on the patio, adding color to the garden will make it more attractive.

Adding color by incorporating flowers into your vegetable garden does more than just make the garden more attractive.  You can select specific varieties of flowers that will attract beneficial pollinators to your garden. As an added benefit, some flowers can act as a protector by keeping deer, rats, and various other  predators and pests out of the garden.

There are various ways to add color to your vegetable garden.  One way to add color is to plant colorful vegetables. There are many varieties of colorful vegetables available and the selection increases each year. Your garden can be filled with a kaleidoscope of color simply by planting some of the many types of colorful tomatoes available.  Tomatoes alone can add yellow, orange, pink, purple, and more shades of red than you can imagine to a garden.  Peppers also provide an abundance of color in the garden. Vegetables such as eggplant are colorful and impressive additions to a garden. There are various types of lettuce blends that create a spectacularly colorful display in the garden.

One very impressive way to add color to a vegetable garden is to include sunflowers in the garden.  Their magnificent height enables them to be seen above all of the other garden items. They are excellent as a border or mingles in among the other vegetables.

Plants such as borage and salvia will attract pollinators to your garden.  Lavender is absolutely beautiful in the garden.  It’s wonderful fragrance is unmistakable. However, if you have deer that find your garden an edible delight, you will appreciate lavender for it deer deterrent quality. It is also beneficial in repelling ticks and keeping  mice and cabbage moths from damaging plants.

Mingling marigolds into your vegetable garden will add brilliant bursts of color throughout. Marigolds make an ideal border plant for the garden.  They are available in a variety of colors. But even more important than the beauty they add to garden is their amazing reputation for being an excellent natural form of pest control for a vegetable garden. Wildflowers are also respected for their ability to repel garden pests.

Nasturtiums, cosmos, and a wide variety of heirloom flowers make wonderful, colorful additions to a vegetable garden.  Creating a walkway through your garden with colored brick, stone, or gravel will add color to that area. Painted bird houses or other decorative garden art is also a way to make your vegetable garden more colorful. With just a little strategic planning your vegetable garden can become an impressively colorful portion of your landscape or patio design.

Learn more about this author, Veronica Bowman.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.