Most people don’t expect to find beauty in a vegetable garden.
But blue heirloom pumpkins, pink tomatoes streaked with gold, and even the humble potato in shades of magenta and royal purple are all beautiful in their own way.
There’s real beauty in the vegetable garden once you look for it. And once you start seeing it, it’s impossible to leave it out of the vase.
My own turning point came from a moment of desperation.
Spring was turning to summer and my arugula and radishes were bolting.
I wasn’t growing cut flowers at the time, other than the odd zinnia or marigold, and neither were flowering yet.
But I wanted something to display by the kitchen sink, so I cut a few stems of arugula and radish flowers and plopped them in a vase with some parsley as an afterthought.
It worked. Better than I expected.
I remembered that little spring bouquet a few years later when I started cut flower gardening.
I ventured further into my vegetable garden, taking tomato foliage and cherry tomato trusses to mix with rudbeckias and branches of hot peppers to pair with zinnias.
I wasn’t following any rules, just experimenting to see what I liked and didn’t like.
What I didn’t know at the time was that this wasn’t a new concept. The traditional English cottage garden and French potagers have always grown flowers and vegetables together in the same beds. It’s really only in the last century that we’ve separated them.
I think it’s time to bring them back together.
This time, in the vase.
This post is highlights my favorite vegetables for flower arrangements. We’ll also cover fruits and berries for foliage and texture. These edible additions provide a little extra something special to homegrown bouquets.
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Vegetables
Tomatoes
Tomato foliage is underused and underappreciated. The suckers (the side shoots you’d be pruning off anyway) make good foliage, and since they have a tendency to root in the vase, are long-lasting as well.
Potato-leafed varieties have fuller, more substantial foliage than wispy types, but any tomato you’re already growing will work.
Don’t overlook the fruit itself either. Clip a branch of colorful cherry tomatoes or tiny spoon tomatoes and remove the leaves. Tuck these close to the rim of the vase where they can dangle over the edge, adding color, texture, and an element of surprise that no flower can replicate.
Peppers (Mini or Ornamental)
Hot peppers are prolific producers and their small, colorful fruits are easy to work into arrangements.
Look for mini peppers and grow a mix of colors: red, orange, yellow, and purple. All are stunning in the garden and in the vase.
Ornamental varieties are easy to grow as well.
Eggplant
Most eating varieties, while lovely, are too large for the vase. Ornamental eggplants are in a class of their own.
For instance, pumpkin-on-a-stick is an unusual ornamental eggplant that looks exactly like mini pumpkins on a stick. Weird, but beautiful.
Like tomatoes and peppers, mini varieties of eggplant will be easiest to tuck into arrangements and are worth seeking out if you’d like to grow them for the vase.
Okra
Here’s a good use for okra you missed the harvest window on. The woody, overripe pods make great additions to flower arrangements.
They hold their shape well, last a long time out of water and add a sculptural quality to bouquets.
The harder and more woody the okra is, the longer it’ll last in the arrangement and you can even dry them for future use.
To get okra pods to stay in place, you’ll just need to add wire to the stems of each okra fruit. Cut the wire to the length you want and use as you would any other floral stem.
I love growing red okra in the garden.
Asparagus
Both asparagus spears and fronds are useful, though for different reasons and seasons.
I’ll admit, I don’t often put spears in arrangements because I’m too excited to eat them! But they do look lovely in a vase by themselves… until it’s time for dinner anyway.
A mix of green and purple asparagus is lovely, though if I were starting over, I’d choose all purples. I have only one Purple Passion asparagus plant and it’s a joy to see it sprout each spring.
Asparagus fronds, however, are the most useful in arrangements. They add a light, airiness to bouquets and are long-lasting to boot.
In the fall, some of the asparagus produce little red berries that are lovely for moody late-season arrangements.
Plus, asparagus is perennial, so once you’ve planted it, you’ve got it forever.
Bolted Vegetables (and Herbs)
Bolting is the term for when leafy or root vegetables start producing flowers and going to seed. In vegetable gardening, that would mean the plant is done producing, but for cut flower use, it’s just beginning.
Bolted vegetables are perfect to use for casual garden bouquets.
Radishes, arugula, carrots, fennel, and onions all produce flowers, pods, or seedheads that work great in casual flower arrangements
The same goes for herbs as well: cilantro, parsley, dill. These bolt into airy, lacy umbels that look like Queen Anne’s lace.
So it’s okay if vegetables and herbs begin to bolt. Embrace it. Cut it. Enjoy it!
For more herbs to use in arrangements, check out my post sharing my favorite herbs for flower arranging.
Fruit
Fruit trees of all kinds can make good cutting material. I’m highlighting two of my favorites that we grow below.
Apple (and Crabapple)
Apple blossoms are gorgeous in the spring. These white and pink blossoms are some of the most beautiful cuts available from any garden and impossible to buy from a florist.
Apples on vigorous rootstock wil produce prolifically, so there’s always plenty to cut.
Don’t be afraid to edit the stems (remove leaves and offshoots). There’s no rule in floral design that says you have to keep all cuts intact.
Crabapple is also worth growing for the vase. Even if you don’t eat them, they’ll pollinate your apple trees just the same.
Pink Profusion Crabapple has deep pink flowers that would complement the white/light pink of apple blossoms.
Branches with immature fruits can be used in arrangements, too.
We prune our fruit trees hard in the winter, but leave some to cut in the spring for bouquets.
Peach
Fresh homegrown peaches are my second favorite fruit. (Perfectly ripened mangoes take first place.)
They have gorgeous pink blossoms that explode in the springtime. I also love the look of the curvy leaves and fuzzy immature fruit in the summer.
I have an ornamental peach tree in the center of my in-ground garden. While it doesn’t produce good quality fruit, it does flower prolifically for pollinators and has gorgeous maroon foliage.
Berries
Raspberry
Caning berries like raspberry are highly productive. Because of its suckering habit, these berries throw out new stems with a vengeance, especially if they’re happy where they are.
Raspberries are very easy to grow in my zone 6 Indiana garden. I use the branches primarily as foliage.
Raspberry foliage adds a natural, wild, cottage look to arrangements to keep them from looking too stuffy and formal.
Choose thornless raspberry varieties for easy harvesting. Joan J is a popular thornless variety for floral use.
We grow Fall Gold because I love the taste of those sweet golden berries.
Blackberry
Blackberries, admitedly, are my least favorite berry, but that just makes me feel less guilty about cutting them for the vase!
I have a dedicated blackberry bed in my cutting garden to use for foliage and texture once the berries come in.
Blackberry foliage turns red or maroon in the fall, making it perfect for moody fall arrangements.
As with raspberry, choose thornless blackberry varieties to grow for the vase and for eating.
I grow Baby Cakes by Bushel and Berry.
How to Harvest and Condition Stems for the Vase
Cut stems in the morning when plants are fully hydrated and fresh. In my experience, waiting until the afternoon produces wilty foliage that takes longer to recover, even with proper conditioning.
Fruiting stems can be treated like regular flowers. Harvest when the fruits or vegetables are the size and color you want.
Vegetable and fruiting stems need to be conditioned just as you would with flowers.
To condition, fill a bucket with room temperature water. Place your cuts in the bucket and keep the bucket in a cool (not cold) room for two hours so the stems can get a good drink.
Then arrange as usual.
Read this post next for more tips on making fresh cut flowers last.
Conditioning Woody Stems
Woody stems need to be split about an inch deep from the bottom to encourage stems to take in more water. Some florists bash woody stems with a hammer to open them up further.
I usually just cut into the stem crosswise in an X and call it a day.
More on Flower Arranging
Let Vegetables Mingle with Flowers
Mixing vegetables and fruits with cut flowers can create surprising and uniquely beautiful arrangements.
Each bouquet tells a story of what’s actually growing outside.
If you’re already growing some of these vegetables, try cutting them for flower arrangements.
Because when you start pulling from the vegetable garden as freely as your flower garden, that story becomes so much more interesting.
Happy gardening!
