Formal Vegetable Garden Design: Elevating Edibles to Art

A Garden Room for Edible Beauty

Designer Freeland Tanner believes vegetable gardening should be elevated to the level of a formal garden, where the beauty of plants is showcased to maximum potential. In their Napa, California garden, the Tanners created an inviting garden room centered on a formal allée of metal arbors leading to a circular herb bed accented with a wooden obelisk. Raised beds with low stone columns form living tapestries of complementary colors, each staged like a flower arrangement with a central focal point—large half-barrels anchoring most beds, planted with obelisks (beans or peas) or handsome blends of vegetables, herbs, and flowers. Variegated corn, Agastache 'Tutti Frutti', or other tall plants serve as focal points in other beds, underplanted with low-growing herbs and vegetables in patterns or harmonious mixes.

Each bed is edged with overlapping hoops from apple, elderberry, and pear cuttings, underplanted with sweet alyssum, parsley, or violas. A few choice non-edible perennials ensure flowers for the table alongside vegetables for dinner.

Design Tips for a Formal Edible Garden

• Create focal points: Place a large container, obelisk, trellis, or sculptural object in the center of each bed.
• Arrange like a container: Taller plants in the center, surrounded by shorter ones.
• Plant in patterns: Arrange low-growers with interesting forms, colors, textures (cabbages, basil) in circles or other patterns.
• Echo colors: Start with a colored vegetable (purple eggplant) and repeat the hue with similarly colored plants.
• Grow vertically: Train trailing cucumbers, melons, squash on arbors; pole beans, peas, indeterminate tomatoes on structures.
• Plan for seasonal change: Shift from cool- to warm-season crops like a "seasonal migration"; have replacements ready when one crop is harvested.
• Frame the space: Surround the bed or garden perimeter with edging or a fence.