Growing companion vegetables and flowers together satisfies a desire a traditional row vegetable garden doesn’t quite manage: it feeds you and fills your soul at the same time.
Mixing vegetables and flowers creates a beautiful cottage vegetable garden that provides both food and cut flowers to harvest for the vase.
The combinations in this post work on both of these levels.
They attract pollinators and support beneficial insects which help manage pests without spraying. Aesthetically, they pair plants that look gorgeous together. Plants with contrasting leaf shapes, complementary colors, and balanced heights.
This is the core idea behind a cottage vegetable garden. Vegetables and flowers that grow well together because plants were always meant to mix, not be segregated by type.
It’s not just companion planting for pest control, either, but for a garden that you actually want to spend time in.
Curious about why I love mixing vegetables and flowers in my garden? Read this post on potager gardens first, then come back to see my top flower and vegetable combinations.
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The Formula: How to Choose Plants That Grow Well Together
Each combo below is built on the same principles. I’ll explain my logic here, and I hope that it helps you design your own pairings that you’ll love just as much, if not more.
1. Match Water Needs
Unless you’re being ultra-precise with your watering, it’s best to pair plants that have similar water needs.
For example, lettuce prefers consistently moist, but thyme likes to dry out between waterings. Put them in the same bed and one of them will always be unhappy.
But if you swap the thyme for a cucumber, both the lettuce and cucumber will be happier getting regular water because they’re both thirsty plants.
A beautiful companion bed with incompatible companions won’t perform well, and water is a key player to the happiness of our garden plants.
2. Balance Nutrient Needs
In a mixed bed, keep heavy feeders spaced far apart and surround them with light feeders.
Many of my favorite companion flowers—zinnias, nasturtiums, sweet alyssum, calendula—are light feeders that don’t compete agressively for nutrients. These are easy to pair with demanding vegetable plants like tomatoes and zucchini.
3. Use Different Root Zones
Plants that root at different depths can also share the same area with little competition.
Think of a tap-rooted plant like a carrot. It can reach down deep into the soil while lettuce will stick to the top zone of the soil layer. These two can be grown side-by-side because their roots occupy different zones and won’t fight over the same resources.
Thinking about what goes on underneath the soil really helps clarify the combination possibilities.
4. Mix Heights Intentionally (Thriller/Filler/Spiller)
Have you ever heard of the container garden formula: thriller + filler + spiller? The thriller is a tall, architectural plant. The filler is a medium height plant that is well-branched or bushy; and the spiller is a plant that trails out of the container.
This trio creates a dynamic, beautiful container garden every time.
That same logic applies to our garden beds.
Think of each bed as a container. (You don’t have to be gardening in a raised bed for this to work, by the way.) Use your tallest plants (vines on a trellis count) as the thriller, select medium-height plants for the filler, and short or trailing plants for the spillers.
5. Consider Sunlight Needs When Mixing Heights
This one can get tricky once you start mixing heights.
Generally, tall plants go on the north side of the bed so that they don’t shade shorter plants.
But you can also use shade strategically. For example, lettuce planted on the north side of a tall plant will stay cooler and be less likely to bolt in the summer heat.
If you need more ideas for shade tolerant plants, read my post on growing vegetables in the shade.
Understanding what the sunlight is like in each bed and how much sun plants prefer is a key part to making a garden work.
Use this chart for reference.
|
Bed Side |
Light Quality |
Best Plants |
|---|---|---|
|
North |
Shadiest |
Shade-tolerant greens and herbs: lettuce, spinach, parsley |
|
East |
Gentle morning sun |
Tender herbs and plants: basil |
|
South |
Most sun and heat |
Heat-loving plants: peppers, rosemary |
|
West |
Intense afternoon sun |
Most fruiting vegetables, including zucchini, tomatoes |
10 Companion Planting Combinations for Vegetables and Flowers
For each combo below, you’ll find the plants, the season it works best in, and why it works. Combinations 1-5 are warm-season, 6-8 are cool, and the last two are mostly perennial.
Warm Season Combinations
1. Marigolds + Tomatoes + Purple-Leaf Basil
This trio delivers stunning color, scent, and a harvest at hat works well on the plate and even in the vase.
The tomato acts as the anchor plant in this combination. Choose an orange or yellow variety (like Sun Gold Cherry Tomato or Pineapple Tomato) to echo the marigolds or a dark-fruited variety (like Indigo Rose Cherry Tomato or Black Beauty Tomato) to play off the purple basil.
Place it in the center of your garden space. Use a sturdy cage or obelisk trellis to keep the tomato vines contained and upright.
Marigolds deter nematodes and attract beneficial insects to help pollinate tomato flowers and prey on tomato pests. Basil is a classical pairing with tomatoes because it’s believed to improve the flavor of tomatoes!
Purple basil especially will add depth and interest to your garden as well as being a delicious companion for tomatoes. Try Deep Purple Basil or Purple Petra Basil.
If you plan on cutting marigolds for bouquets, select a tall type. I like Mission Giant Yellow or Phyllis for cutting. Place marigolds on the south or west side of your tomato.
In the Kitchen: Purple basil on a gold tomato is unique and stunning on a plate!
Garnish it with marigolds if you like; they’re edible, too.
2. Zinnias + Peppers + Sweet Alyssum
This pair likes it hot and tolerates dry conditions, making them easy companions.
Zinnias can handle less nutrition and peppers don’t mind growing close. Grow these two in dense blocks and they’ll be able to support one another.
I enjoy how these two match up. A mix of zinnia colors with glossy peppers in matching or contrasting colors creates a bed where the eye bounces from flower to pepper.
Match zinnia colors to pepper colors. I like the Queeny series of zinnias for this. Queeny Lime Orange with orange bell peppers, Queeny Lime Red with red bell peppers, and Queeny Lemon Peach with yellow bell peppers.
Purple or chocolate bells would look great with any of these zinnia colors as well.
Feel free to add a spiller—sweet alyssum, purple basil, or Bull’s Blood Beets—tucked in at the corners for extra contrast.
3. Beans + Nasturtiums + Sunflower
Beans are fuss-free vegetables that grow well with almost anything. Nasturtiums are a colorful, edible flower that will also serve as a trap crop for aphids if needed. Sunflowers can add height and color, as well as being cut for the vase.
You can plant this combo two ways depending on whether you are growing pole or bush beans.
Option 1: Grow pole beans vertically and surround the base of the trellis with nasturtiums. Flank the trellis with sunflowers or grow a row of tall ones behind the trellis as a backdrop.
Option 2: Use sunflowers (branching ones work well for this) as the thriller and alternate bush beans and nasturtiums below at the base of the sunflowers.
Choose colorful podded beans for maximum interest. Royal Burgundy is a pole bean with deep purple pods that turn green when cooked. Gold Rush is a yellow wax bush bean. Or for something whimsical, try Red Noodle beans which grow extra-long and look so dramatic hanging from an arch trellis.
Try Alaska nasturtium which has interesting variegated leaves and bright flowers.
Nasturtium leaves, flowers, and seed pods are all edible. Sunflowers are also edible. Both flowers can be cut for the vase.
Check out this post for the best varieties of sunflowers to grow for the vase.
4. Cantaloupe + + Dahlias + Sweet Alyssum
This combination is a unique and beautiful one for a cottage vegetable garden.
Dahlias grow tall and will provide plenty of flowers for the vase. Sweet alyssum contrasts with the textures of the other plants and add a lovely fragrance to the garden.
Cantaloupe vines and sweet alyssum together shade the soil below and act as spillers. Additionally, sweet alyssum’s honey-scented flowers attract beneficial insects like parasitoidal wasps and plenty of pollinators, which the melons will need.
Choose a compact version of cantaloupe if you’re short on ground space. Minnesota Midget Melon is a favorite of mine because it’s compact, quick to mature, and personal-sized.
Stake the dahlias with an inconspicuous tomato cage when planting. Plant melon seeds about a foot away from dahlia tubers in each direction and add sweet alyssum starts in between the melons.
Note: While dahlias and cantaloupe are both heavy feeders, they are compatible because they both love growing in sandy, loose soil and being watered deeply. Add in a good dose of compost when planting this group and they should be fine.
5. Zucchini + Cosmos + Basil + Radish
I don’t have the best photo of this combo, but trust me, it looks better in person! Zucchini squash performs well when companion planted with cosmos, basil, and radish. (Note: Radishes are left in the ground to flower and deter pests. Learn more in my companion planting squash post.)
Cosmos acts as the thriller in this trio, zucchini is the filler, and basil is the spiller or low accent plant. When radishes flower, they’ll also add a lovely, airy bloom to the planting.
Both cosmos and basil provide plenty of flowers for the vase and will attract pollinators in droves. Do note that basil, once flowering, will change flavor and won’t be great for cooking with.
Zucchini, and all other types of squash, need pollinators in order to set fruit. Squash is notorious for being unproductive in brand-new gardens because of poor pollination.
Growing both cosmos and basil flowers will help remedy this problem.
See my favorite varieties of cosmos and how I grow them in this post.
Cool-Season Combinations
6. Broccoli + Pansies + Carrots
These three cool-weather crops are the perfect example of the formula I shared above. Broccoli is a heavy feeder and shallow-rooted, carrots are lighter feeders with deep taproots, and pansies are light feeders that don’t mind blooming in the shade of broccoli’s broad leaves.
No competition, three different root zones, and a beautiful contrast of textures and colors.
Plant carrots ahead—they take a couple weeks to germinate and can go in as soon as the soil is workable. Tuck in broccoli transplants behind the carrots, leaving plenty of room for them to spread. Then edge the bed with pansies or use just a few as accents.
For more color impact, choose purple, orange, or an acid green Romanesco broccoli and pansies in whatever color you like.
In the Kitchen: Pansy flowers make a charming garnish on a spring salad plate or in a spring drink
7. Lacinato Kale + Pineapple Sage + Sweet Alyssum
This is one of my favorite companion vegetable and flower combos. I didn’t plan it out originally; it just happened. And this combo actually was the lightbulb moment to when I realized how gorgeous mixed plantings could be in a cottage vegetable garden.
The bright red flowers of pineapple sage pop out beautifully against the deep blue-green of lacinato kale. White and pale pink sweet alyssum brighten the area below and add a honey-sweet fragrance.
This combination can grow quite well in part sun (5-6 hours of light), which makes it one fo the few on this list that works in a partially shaded spot. In the photo you’ll see perennial oregano and chives in the corners to fill out this bed and contribute to the layered effect.
Note: Pineapple sage is a tender perennial, so it won’t survive winter in most climates. However it’ll grow large in one season and is a productive annual with a delicious pineapple scent.
8. Lettuce + Calendula + Chives
This combination just screams spring in a cottage vegetable garden. Colorful lettuce, bright calendula, and grassy chives are a study in color and texture.
Use a mix of lettuce varieties for lots of texture. You can grow heads and checkerboard them or space them closer together as baby greens. Once the lettuce is finished, succession plant more lettuce or bush beans in its place.
Calendula is one of my favorite companions and makes a great cut flower as well. It deters aphids and whiteflies, attracts beneficial insects, and has a long bloom season if deadheaded. The flowers are edible and make an electric garnish.
Chives intermingled with lettuce provide a low thriller in this combination. Their purple, globe-shaped blossoms are edible and beautiful. Use them to make bright pink chive blossom vinegar in the spring.
If you prefer to use all annuals, green onion is an easy substitute for chives. Skip the bulbing onions, however. They don’t like competition from companions.
9. Strawberries + Borage + Chives
Confession time: I tried planting strawberries and asparagus together in a raised bed. It worked for the first year when the asparagus was still tiny, but as they got bigger, it got harder to harvest the strawberries and harder for the strawberries to get enough light. Do not recommend.
What can work well together is strawberries, borage, and chives.
Strawberries cover the ground easily with its runners and low-growing habit. Borage grows tall and is incredibly floriferous, which is great for attracting pollinators. Chives a have strong scent that deters pests and are perennial, like strawberries.
To maintain this bed, keep strawberry runners well-managed. Don’t let them choke each other out.
Place chives in the corners of the bed, slightly out of the way.
Borage self-seeds aggressively, so you can either allow it to self-seed each year, or plan to clear a small section of your bed to tuck in starts.
10. Sage + Coneflower + Quick-Maturing Spring Vegetables
This combination solves a problem most cottage vegetable gardeners hit at least once: what does the border look like after the spring crops are finished?
Quick-maturing vegetables fill the front of the border in early spring, when the coneflower is still low and the sage is just waking up. By the time you’ve pulled the last radish and harvested the final arugula, the perennials have filled in, leaving you with a border that’s lush and beautiful for the rest of the season without any replanting.
Three plants carry the border from early spring to frost.
Both perennials are also harvestable, which keeps this border useful rather than being purely ornamental.
Coneflower makes a sturdy, long-lasting cut flower. Use the flowers at peak bloom, or let the seedheads dry on the plant for late-season arrangements with real structure.
Culinary sage (Salvia officinalis) is great in the kitchen, and its soft purple flower spikes in late spring are beautiful in early-season bouquets alongside tulips or alliums.
Tricolor sage is a lovely variegated variety of sage.
For more perennial flowers and herb options for this cottage garden combo, check out these posts:
- 21 Perennial Flowers and Shrubs for Cut Flower Gardens
- 9 Herbs for Flower Arranging to Add Fragrance and Texture
- 10 Perennial Herbs for a Beautiful Potager Garden
Now, for the vegetables in front, choose the fastest-maturing varieties you can find. Radishes, arugula, and lettuce all work well. The goal is a complete harvest before the perennials need that space. See my post on fast-maturing vegetables for impatient gardeners.
This is a great example of a low-maintenance perennial border that also feeds you.
Your Turn to Grow
The easiest way to begin companion planting is to pick one combo and just try it! Don’t overhaul your whole garden all at once.
Pick the combination that speaks to you or that matches what you already like to grow.
The thriller/filler/spiller formula is easy to apply to any growing situation and always looks great.
Above all, experiment, and have fun with it.
If you find a companion planting you particularly love, repeat it over and over again.
A cottage vegetable garden that grows food and flowers together doesn’t have to be complicated to be beautiful.
FAQs
Flowers that attract pollinators and beneficial insects are the best companions for vegetables. Try marigolds, nasturtiums, calendula, sweet alyssum, borage, cosmos, or zinnias. Any of these will be beautiful and functional in a vegetable garden.
Vegetables that grow well together generally share simlar water and nutrient needs and occupy different root zones. Beans, radishes, lettuce, and green onions generally don’t mind growing with other vegetables.
Oh yes! And in a cottage vegetable garden, that’s the whole point. Flowers and vegetables together create a more biodiverse, productive, and beautiful space. Just choose plants thoughtfully and make sure they have compatible growing requirements.
Two plants to keep away from common vegetables include fennel and black walnut. They produce chemicals that inhbit the growth of other vegetables. Also, onions and garlic can stunt the growth of beans and peas, so keep these families separated.
