Turning your landscape into an edible feast fit for the eyes as well as the stomach is a hot trend in 2015, and breeders have been busy developing varieties that look and taste amazing. They’re not just showy, they can be practical too, with sizes petite enough to feed smaller families or appetites and fit into smaller garden spaces.
Take a look at these sexy newcomers and renewed acquaintances. You won’t want to hide them in a backyard vegetable garden, because they’re pretty enough to hold their own up front in the flower beds.
Purple Wonder strawberry
This hipster is not your average strawberry. It’s a sweet, two-tone treat with burgundy-purple skin hiding a red heart. June-bearing plants produce early, ushering in summer with bountiful harvests. Bred by Courtney Weber at Cornell University; get it at Cook’s Garden (, $11.95 per plant).
Phoenix nasturtium
Herb and edible-flower aficionados will thrill to this new variety of Tropaeolum minus. Instead of conventional, rounded petals, Phoenix’s flower petals are cut into three or four points, like flames. The result is a stunning display of edible beauty. Well-behaved and compact in the flower bed, this plant changes form if planted in hanging baskets and will give you trailing, floral-flamed stems. Found at Park seed (, $4.95).
Ruby Glow Romaine Love your lettuce, but want to add a bit more pizazz? Check out Ruby Glow Romaine, shown on Grow’s cover.. The dark purple leaves are a designer’s delight, setting off lighter-colored plants or flowers in the bed. Cooks will love it, too, for its tasty, crisp leaves. Harvest it, then delight in discovering that the heart of each head is an eye-popping combination of lime green and ruby red. Great for container or mountain gardeners; order from Cook’s Garden (, $6.95).
Kalibos cabbage Another purple performer for the garden, this cabbage forms diminutive spires of mauve leaves with snow white hearts. You won’t have to plan for cabbage that feeds thousands — the petite, mild-flavored, 2-pound heads are perfect for single meals. Baker Creek Heirloom seeds has them (, $3).
Rainbow carrotsThese carrots hit a market sweet spot for gardeners and foodies alike, wooing them with roots of yellow, orange, purple, and white. If you want to plant a rainbow, you can find a mix at FedCo (, $2.60) or at many other seed companies.
But for gardeners who want a carrot of a different color, get Atomic Red from Botanical Interests (, $2.69). Atomic Red is delicious raw, but doesn’t mind the heat of the kitchen; however you cook them, the colors of their screaming red skin and orange core intensify.
Peregion beans These beans may not look like much on the vine, but out of the pod they’re considered one of the most beautiful dried beans. Swirled and marbled in hues of mocha, cocoa, and white, they keep their colors through cooking for decorative dishes. Add to that their sublime flavor, and this heirloom from Oregon is worthy of a hardcore foodie’s garden. Vermont Bean Seed company has them (, $2.85).
Glass Gem cornWith kernels that look like dyed pearls, this corn’s spectacular beauty created an Internet frenzy when it was first introduced in 2010. Ear after ear is filled with translucent, jewel-colored kernels, which can be used for popcorn, ground into flour, or left to decorate your home. This corn needs room, producing side tillers on 6-to-9-foot stalks, and takes 120 growing days. For best kernel color, harvest once the husks are dry and brown. Found exclusively at Native Seed (, $5.95).
Candy Mountain corn
This one will satisfy your sweet-corn tooth even if you live at elevation. Needing only 70 days to mature (and if you can keep the wildlife from getting it), this super-sweet variety is a summer luxury for plains or mountains. Find it at Seed’s Trust (, $4.95).
Tom Thumb pea
Mountain gardeners will also love Tom Thumb pea, an English heirloom that’s tough enough to take your fickle weather and short season. The dwarf, 8-inch tall plant loads itself down with pods that are sweet and tender when harvested young, or let the pods swell with full-sized peas to use as a shelling pea. Plant the seeds in containers, cold frames, hoop houses, or planting beds. Find them at Seed Savers Exchange (, $2.99).
Cucamelon, Mexican sour gherkinMelothria scabra, also called Mouse melon, has tiny, watermelon-like fruits sure to be a conversation piece at summer garden parties. Their cucumber flavor with a tang of sourness gives them a slightly pickled flavor without the brine. Give the 10-foot vine room to ramble and plan on picking the fruit often; the sourness intensifies as they mature. Carried by Botanical Interests (, $2.39).
Butterscotch squash Small is big, and Butterscotch squash is a mini-butternut with flavor big enough to qualify it as an All-America Selection. The fruit is described as having an unusually rich, sweet, starchy flavor. The vines stay small, producing the one- to two-pound squash in 100 days. Spacing is the key to fruit size; if you want smaller, one-pound fruit, crowd them slightly. Use within three months of harvest because they don’t store long. Johnny’s Selected Seeds (, $4.10).
Autumn Star Kalettes
Rounding out the palette of petites is Autumn Star Kalettes, an improvement on the cross between Brussels sprouts and kale. The bicolored Kalettes are best when planted in fertile soils, well-fertilized, and irrigated in dry weather. Buffer them from our intense sun and heat with shade cloth or shade in the afternoon. Harvest when florets are 2 inches in diameter. A Johnny’s Selected Seeds exclusive (, $6.95).
