Fractal cauliflower by Mikenan1
There are a few other vegetables or fruit that I want you to consider when creating your vegetable landscape.
One is the tomato- especially the miniature tomatoes, the cherry and grape type of tomatoes. The fruit of these plants look like jewels and come in red, yellow, orange, purple, chocolate, black, white and of course green fruits (see here). Some of these tomato plants bear 100s of fruits per plant- one claims to have over 650 tomatoes per plant- for a spectacular show. Some tomato plants hang down and others are upright. Some are great for container growing.
red small tomatoes by Martin LaBar
Another vegetable to look at for your landscaped garden is cauliflower. Everyone knows that there is white cauliflower. But did you know that Cauliflower comes in yellow and almost orange, green as well as purple heads? (see here) My favorite cauliflower look is the green Romanesco Cauliflower.The shape of the head is unique.
And last, let me suggest the globe artichoke. The globe artichoke is in the thistle family. They grow in zones 3 through 9 and in zones 7 through 9 it will be a perennial. If you harvest the globe or immature flower head you can eat it; it is a real gourmet delight. This immature head comes in green and purple or violet. (see here) If you let the globe mature and open, the resulting purple flowers are quite attractive, large, and fragrant. Globe artichokes can grow to be 5 ft tall and 5 ft wide with interesting foliage, so plant it toward the back of the garden. This is one of the few vegetables that can grow in partial shade. (see here)
Below are photos taken of an artichoke farm in California.
