Flowers for the Vegetable Garden | What I’m Growing This Year!

Flowers are often overlooked when it comes to planning a vegetable garden, but there are some compelling reasons to plant flowers with your vegetables. Today I’m sharing all the flowers I’m planning to grow in this year’s vegetable garden.

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Hey friends welcome back to Homestead on a Prayer we’re here in my living room and all around me on the living room floor I have C packets laid out I’m working on planning exactly what flowers I’m going to grow in my vegetable garden this year and I thought it might be a

Good time to talk about why you might want to think about including flowers in your vegetable garden and also what flowers I’m planning to grow in my garden this year so you know it can be really tempting when you’re planting a vegetable garden to try when you’re especially if you’re on limited space

Like I am to try to cram as many vegetables into that place into that space as possible and not even really to think about flowers you know flowers are kind of an afterthought or a luxury and not really something that you may necessarily think about including in

Your vegetable garden now as I mentioned I am unlimited space But even with that I do make a point to always include some flowers in my in my vegetable garden every year along with my vegetables and there are a few reasons why I like to do

That you know one is just because it’s beautiful I mean flowers you know they come in so many so many different varieties they are really beautiful so I realize that’s not necessarily a very practical reason but it does make your garden really I find at least in my

Experience it makes it a more special place it makes it more somewhere that I really want to be and I find that if the garden is somewhere I want to be I’m not going to be viewing it as much as a chore I’m going to be viewing it more as

Something that I really enjoy something that I’m doing to just just to feed my whole self and not just to feed my body so you know I just really I just enjoy the feeling of having flowers it makes it just makes my garden a lot more enjoyable now on a more practical note

Flowers are great for attracting pollinators now depending on what type of vegetables you’re growing pollination can be really important especially if you’re growing something like cucumbers or squashes certain types of melons there’s a lot of plants like that that really Rel Ry really heavily on pollinators and if you don’t have if you

Don’t have pollinators in your garden you may end up with you know a lower Harvest or in some cases maybe not even a harvest at all and making sure that you have enough pollinators can actually really contribute to a better Harvest and therefore that’s a practical benefit

As well rather than just an aesthetic benefit now kind of along the same lines having flowers in your garden can also attract beneficial insects you know when you’re gardening organically it’s really important to enlist the help of nature whenever possible gardening organically has a reputation for being more work for

Being harder because you’re not relying on synthetic pesticides or synthetic fertilizers things like that but the reality is that if you’re working with nature nature is actually happy to handle a lot of that workload for you and when you attract beneficial insects to your garden that is going to help

Decrease your pest load or your pest pressure naturally without any any work that you do and that is a great thing because if we’re not relying on chemical pesticides then handpicking pests and things like that can be pretty labor intensive so if we can attract bugs to

Our garden insects that are going to be preying on some of those pests then that is definitely something that at least in my garden that’s definitely something that I want to encourag now planting flowers in your garden really contributes to the biodiversity of your garden and this is

True of any plants that you interplant together you know when you think of commercial Agriculture and you think of just fields and Fields of the same crop you know you drive by those fields in my area I See Fields of corn where they’ll just be fields and Fields of corn

Nothing else there when that you know that’s not how plants grow in nature when you’re trying to sustain plants in in a way like that you’re really working against nature because nature values diversity nature likes to interplant lots of different plant species lots of different lots of different insect

Species together when you plant a lot of the same plant together like that you’re really increasing your Reliance on artificial fertilizers and on artificial pesticides because say for example you have that giant Field of Corn and then an insect that likes corn finds your field you know it’s going it’s going to

Stay there because you know it’s got an unlimited supply of its favorite food it’s going to lay its eggs in the soil and then year after year pest pressure for that particular pest is going to increase so just by mixing things up a little bit it makes it a little more

Challenging for pests to find the exact plant that they’re looking for so it really does lead to a healthier a healthier little ecosystem in your garden overall now additionally different plants have different growth habits they take different nutrients and different amounts from the soil so just overall encouraging biodiversity in your

Garden is something that is going to to improve your overall soil health and the health of your plants in the garden so you can see that there are actually a lot of practical reasons why you may want to include flowers in your vegetable garden as well aside from just

The Beauty and the joy that it brings now there are some specific types of flowers that I will always include in my vegetable garden so as I said I’ve got my seeds laid out here I just want to share with you what flowers I’m planning

To grow in my garden this year and in some cases I’ll I’ll share why I’m choosing those particular flowers so the first type of flower that I want to mention is alysum I really love alysm for the vegetable garden you can see I have both the white variety and the

Purple variety here I like to grow both of these just because it’s beautiful to have variety now I really love alysum alysum is a really low growing plant it kind of forms like a little mini carpet or a little ground cover in your garden I really like growing alysum because for

One it’s beautiful it blooms early in the season and then again later in the season when you don’t have a lot blooming so it can really brighten up your garden on some of those kind of darker gloomier times of the year when there might not be as many flowers

Blooming it also is really good at attracting beneficial insects and one of the main reasons that I grism is as I said it grows as a carpet and I find that that really helps to control weed pressure you know mulching your garden is so important and that’s in some ways

That’s a separate topic that we’ll talk about later in the season but my favorite form of mulch is a living Mulch and alysum is a great plant for that you can plant it among other plants I like to plant it at the edge of my raised

Beds and it’ll just kind of spread out it reduces the weeds that can grow there and by covering the ground you are lowering the the amount of moisture that can be evaporated just from the Sun beating down on the ground so alysum is a great plant it just kind of

Intermingles along with other plants it doesn’t compete with them so it’s a great one to grow so as I said I’m growing both the carpet of snow which is the white variety and Royal carpet which is the purple variety the next flower that I’m growing in my garden is borage I know this

Doesn’t have a picture on it but it’s it’s got big sort of fuzzy leaves and little tiny blue star-shaped flowers I like borage for several reasons probably the biggest reason is that it’s great at attracting pollinators bees really love borage and I find that just the more

Beneficial insects I can encourage to be around my garden the better you can actually eat Bor flowers They’re edible they taste kind of cucumber it’s sort of a mild flavor I wouldn’t really plan on getting any kind of sustenance from it but it does make a pretty garnish for a

Salad so sometimes I’ll pull off just a couple borage flowers and just stick them in the salad I also really like borage because it’s a true blue you know a lot of times you see flowers called Blue when they’re really like a purple or Violet type of color Bor is actually

Blue like sky blue and I really like it because it’s not a color that you see very often in flowers in nature um I believe there is also a white variety but as I said there are lots of flowers that come in white not very many that

Come in blue so because of that I like to grow the blue borage next I like to grow Cosmos Cosmos is beautiful you know they just sort of they’re dainty flowers as you can see they’re sort of Daisy like they just kind of Bob and weave in a your other

Flowers I find that they don’t take up a really large footprint even though the plant May spread out because the different stems kind of weave and intermingle with your other plants I find that it’s really easy to fit into smaller spaces Cosmos is really just beautiful it makes a pretty decent cut

Flour too so if you’re growing Cosmos then you can multi-purpose and use it for bouquet so I have a handful of varieties that I’m growing this year first I’m growing this one that I already showed you this is renza Cosmos as you can see this is a dark Rich red

This is going to be my first year trying this Cosmos Cosmos most often comes in lighter Shades you know like pinks light purples whites so I thought it was fun to try this really dark Rich red color so that’ll be a new one for me next I’m growing double click

Snowpuff now double click is a line of Cosmos that has it’s called the double flower that basically means it has twice as many petals it’s nice and fluffy looking I have grown a double click mix in the past but I’m growing specifically the white one this year because I have

So many flowers in in So Many Colors so many bright colors I thought it would be nice to include some white flowers in that mix too just to really make the color pop and I thought by growing the double variety it would just be nice and fluffy and really

Fun next I’m growing pick Cosmos this is one of my favorite varieties of Cosmos and really one of my favorite all around flowers to grow in the vegetable garden you can see it’s really a white flower with purple edges and purple streaks it’s really beautiful in my experience

It’s been really reliable it just really brightens up the garden I grew a lot of these plants last year and we did really enjoy having them in the garden so I’ll probably grow that one every year next I’m growing the apricot Cosmos and this one looks really beautiful I

Did try growing this one last year but I had a little bit of trouble with germination um I started some of my plants a little bit late in the season and they just didn’t do that well so I’m trying it again this year and hopefully this year it will be successful but it

Really does look beautiful you know it’s that pretty pink with just a little bit of kind of an apricot streak now finally or at least finally in my pile I may end up adding more varieties to this list after but I have the apricot lemonade Cosmos this one I

Like because it’s a really unique color for Cosmos you can see it sort of of a peachy orange or peachy yellow color with pink centers or pink surrounding the yellow Center I really like this one I did have I had similar issues with this one last year although I did get

Some of these to germinate and they were really beautiful so I really enjoyed them I’m looking forward to Growing those again this year now I think I’m kind of half going in alphabetical order somewhat alphabetical order although that’s not intentional that just happened to be how I had this

Laid out now when you think of flowers in the vegetable garden probably what comes to mind first is maragold maragold are a classic vegetable garden flower they’re really beautiful now a lot of people say that maragal are really good at repelling some harmful types of nematodes that

Live in the soil I haven’t really I haven’t really noticed them repelling pests or anything like that but they are really beautiful so I do grow them I’m growing the lemon gem maragold which is a little bit different than kind of the classic puffy maragold this one has lots

Of really small yellow flowers I did grow this one last year I’ve grown it for the past couple years and I’ve really enjoyed it it’s really pretty so I’ll be growing that again this year and also the Safari red maragold I don’t think I’ve grown this exact variety

Before although I did purchase a six-pack of maragold seedlings from my local Nursery which looked really similar to the picture of this so it’s possible that I grew this just a Ed plants so this one is so this one’s a low growing maragold with smaller flowers but they’re a little bit more of

That classic maragold puff just red tone flowers it looked really pretty so I’m excited to try some of that this year next we’ll talk about nasams and as you can see from the size of this stack here nesters shims are one of my favorite flowers to grow in the vegetable garden

I love nests because they’re just beautiful they depending on what type you are growing they either turn into a nice rounded Mound or they can Trail and be really long almost kind of a vining plant they’re really beautiful they come in lots of really bright colors they are

Edible too you know they kind of have a surprising kick for a flower they’re kind of Zippy and spicy and I guess not exactly a horseradish type flavor but a lot of people describe them that way or describe them as peppery they’re really fun addition to a salad and I really

Enjoy them so one of the classic nest that you’ll find is the jewel mix you can see this one includes a variety of different colors red orange yellow and I think there are other colors included in this mix as well so this is kind of the classic nesters sham mix if you’re only

Going to grow one nesters Sham this is a great choice but you know I am not only going to grow one neram I have lots of choices here I also have the tall climbing mix now the the first one that I showed you the jewel mix that’s one of

Like the the smaller plants it’s kind of mounded and round this is the tall climbing mix and this one will get tall or long depending on how you grow it this is a trailing variety I grew some of these last year and the edges of my raised beds and I

Really liked them they Spilled Out Over the raised beds and they trailed along the path they were really beautiful and I I was really surprised by how long some of them got now you definitely want to make sure that you have the space for these if you want to grow them because

They do take up space but I definitely think they’re worth growing if you have the space for them next I’m trying Phoenix which I believe is another mix so or at least it has variation in the flowers this one I believe is a semi-trailing variety and you can see it has some has

Really unique petal shapes almost kind of looks like Flames which is probably why it’s called Phoenix so I’m really excited to grow this one it just looks really pretty next I have the tip top pink blush now you could see with the other the other nestan mixes that I showed you

They had those really vibrant really bold colors this one’s really different it’s sort of an understated soft color almost antique looking so I haven’t grown this one before but I’m really excited to try it because it just looks really pretty next is the Alaska red shades

Neram you can see this one’s a deep rich almost mahogany color and what I really like about this one in all of the elastic neams is that the leaves are variegated so even when it’s not blooming it’s a beautiful plant I grew this one last year in the garden for the

First time and I really enjoyed it this is a mounded variety and just those little mounds of the green leaves with the white streaks were really pretty and then when it bloomed it’s even more beautiful with those really deep red flowers so I’m excited to grow that one again this

Year and then kind of in that same vein this year I’m growing the tip top Alaska salmon nut neam this one is another Alaska nestam so you can see it’s got those same variegated leaves and this one has kind of a soft apricot color that one’s really pretty I have kind of

Noticed a theme in my garden I was drawn to a lot of flowers of this like apricot salmon color this year so you know I have plenty of other colors too but I think that’s going to be a really pretty theme in my garden this year next I have Orchid flame this is

Another new one that I haven’t tried before but it just looked really beautiful so I’m excited to try this nestam and finally the cherry rose Jewel nestam so you can see these blooms are a little bit fluffy I think this is a double or a semi- double flower and it’s

That really pretty like deep rich rose pink color so I have grown these before and I’m really excited to grow them again now I do want to mention poppies as well I am attempting to grow these this year I have had really mixed success with poppies some years I plant

The seeds poppies tend to prefer to be direct sewn and they like to be sewn very early in the season so I like to sew them outside while it’s still really cool I have not always had success with poppies last year I tried to grow them and they

Didn’t germinate in my garden I think I got maybe two plants but then in the past some years they have germinated and they’ve been abundant and beautiful so I have already sewn some seeds for these outside I’m also experimenting with winter sewing some poppies as I said I

Think they prefer to be direct sewn but I did plant some in um in some milk jugs out on my deck and they have germinated so I’m going to attempt to transplant those to my garden at some point fairly soon before it gets too warm hopefully they transplant okay I’ll definitely

Keep you updated about that but I am attempting to grow these this year these are really big and beautiful they are really good at attracting pollinators if you get the bread seed variety you you can also save the seeds and use them in cooking as poppy seeds which I think

I’ll have to look I’m not sure if either of these are I think this one maybe but don’t hold me to that because I’m not 100% sure there are a handful of bread seed varieties and as I said you can save the seeds for baking so I’m trying

Lauren grape which is this beautiful soft purple color and I’m also doing the mother of pearl mix which is a variety of different colors and looks really beautiful so I’m hoping that it will be a a good poppy year this year oh I have heard actually that you

Shouldn’t plant poppies with your Brasa plants I’ve heard that poppies inhibit the growth of Brasa plants so I have no idea if that’s true or not I’ve never tried to grow them with my brasas but if you have any experience with that whether they have hurt your brasas or

Not I would love to hear if you have any actual experience with that because there didn’t really seem to be when I read that there didn’t really seem to be any s that they shared backing it up so I’m not sure if that’s just one of those

You know taals that gets passed down or if there actually is something to that so i’ would love to hear from you if you know anything about that and the final variety of flower I’m going to mention today this may not be the final variety of flour that I grow

In my vegetable garden this year or category I should say I have a bunch of varieties here um I may end up adding some others but this is the final one that I really want to mention today that I really make a point always grow in my

Vegetable garden every year and that is zenas so I really like zenas they have big beautiful blooms or actually you can get some with smaller blooms as well but they have really showstopping blooms I really enjoy them they make excellent cut flowers so they have they can have a

Really long vase life and that can give you an extra bonus Harvest from your garden just to bring Beauty into your house they’re really good at attracting pollinators and beneficial insects too so the first one I want to mention is this Oklahoma salmon Z this is a new variety to me as I

Mentioned that salmon color has been popping up a lot I’ve been really drawn to it this year so I’m really excited to try this one it’s a new one but it looked really beautiful from the pictures I saw online next I have this one mazia I’m not sure if I’ve pronounced that

Correctly but it looked really pretty it’s this nice deep rich pink with the white tips that looks really pretty so I’m excited to try that one next is the benari or bener giant wine zinia I grew this in my garden last year for the first time and it was

Beautiful it was one of my favorite things in the garden the flowers were huge they were abundant they were this beautiful deep rich like raspberry red wine color I really enjoyed them so I’m definitely going to be growing that again this year next is the queen red lime Zenia

This one is a really beautiful Zenia you know there’s the the whole Queen lime series it comes in a variety of colors and they have this really pretty soft kind of vintage antiquey tone to them they all have a lime green tone but it’s kind of overlaid over

Another color in this case red I think it also comes in orange and yellow I think you can get just plain lime which is just a really bright green that one’s a really stunning Zenia too so I’ve really enjoyed this one really looking forward to having it in my garden again this

Year next is the lilp Hut mix I’m not sure if I’m going to grow this one in my garden this year this one is a little bit of a lower growing Zenia it’s really pretty and I definitely recommend it as a contrast to some of the taller zenas the only issue

Is that I have a lot of other flowers that are that are more low growing so I’m not sure if I want to include more zenas as well I’m going to think about that but this one as it says is a mix so it includes a variety of different

Colors this one the flowers are much smaller the plants are oh 18 to 24 in that’s actually not as short as I was thinking but if you compare it to say like the the giant win Zenia 2 to 3 feet tall so it is significantly shorter but it’s still

Still fairly tall and then this is not a Zenia but definitely should be mentioned this got mixed in with my Zenia packets but Cula this is a must grow for the vegetable garden I always grow Cula in my garden every year as you you can see it’s worth growing for beauty alone it’s

Got these nice bright sunny Happy Flowers this is actually one variety but it comes in both yellow and orange so most likely you if you plant some of these seeds will end up with both in your garden now it also attracts pollinators I really enjoy it I also

Like to use clangula medically and I like this variety specifically the Rosen because it’s supposed to be the highest variety or the variety with the highest concentration of those medicinal res so I do harvest the flowers for medicinal use we dry them and then at

The end of the season I can either use them in salves which are really good for skin care I also find that colula is really great for supporting your lymph system you know when you or just coming down with something and you get those swollen glands in your neck your lymph

Nodes kind of get clogged this is really good at supporting your body with lymphatic drainage so I really love it for those two purposes and it’s really helpful in the vegetable Garden as well even if you don’t Harvest it okay back to zenas I’ve got two more

Here one is the pink Sorita Zenia no this one doesn’t have a a picture but it’s kind of that same it’s pink but with a little bit of an orange tone to it so it’s sort of that salmon kind of orangey peach color I really like it and

It’s got kind of spiky petals the petals are a little bit curled so it almost looks um kind of cactusyack 100% sure if I’m going to grow it this year just because I have so many varieties I have some new ones I want to try but I may grow it this year

And whether or not I grow it I do still like it if I don’t grow it this year I’m sure I’ll be growing it again next year finally for zenas this year I have this Exquisite Zenia which I mean it really is an Exquisite color it’s beautiful shade of nice rich pink I

Haven’t grown this variety before so I’m really excited to try it it looks really beautiful it says 2 to 4T tall with massive 4 to 5 in double petal blooms so I mean it sounds stunning so that is what I have planned for my vegetable garden flowers this

Year I’m sure if you come back for my garden tours this season you will probably see more flowers than what I’ve shown you today but that’s what I’m starting with I’m going to be starting my seeds for most of these indoors in the next week or so so I thought it was

A good time to talk about these flowers and share with you what I’m planning to grow in the garden this year now some of these can be direct sewn as well I have actually already popped a couple Cula seeds out in the garden I know I

Mentioned I had put some poppy seeds out there Nows do pretty well direct sewn and so do zenas and you know a list some too for that matter so really probably everything on the list that I shown you can also be direct sewn I’m going to do

A mix this year in my garden I’m going to direct so some in the garden and I’m going going to start some early we can kind of compare and see how the different varieties do direct sewn versus started early so thank you so much for hanging out with me today I

Would love to hear from you what are your favorite flowers to grow in the vegetable garden and if you have any specific varieties that I haven’t mentioned here I would love to hear from you on those too so I hope you’re having a great day I hope that you are planning

To have both a productive and a beautiful garden this year can’t wait to see you soon I’ll see you next Time