As Canadian gardeners begin planning for the next growing season, one innovative approach gaining popularity combines visual appeal with practical harvest. The concept of edible ornamentals offers the perfect solution for gardeners seeking both beauty and functionality in their outdoor spaces.
What Are Edible Ornamentals?
Edible ornamentals represent a clever gardening strategy where plants serve dual purposes. They provide vibrant colour and visual interest to your garden while simultaneously producing food for your table. These versatile plants thrive equally well in traditional garden beds and containers, making them ideal for various Canadian growing situations from large yards to compact balconies.
Gerald Filipski, in his November 7, 2025 gardening column, highlighted this trend after rediscovering an article from the National Garden Bureau. Despite the November timing, he emphasizes that this is the perfect moment to start planning for spring planting.
Top Picks for Your Garden
Several standout varieties have emerged as excellent choices for Canadian gardens. These plants combine ornamental appeal with culinary value, creating beautiful and productive growing spaces.
Peppers like the AAS Winner 'Pot-A-Peno' offer a cascading variety of Jalapenos specifically bred for containers and hanging baskets. This innovative plant features fruit that hangs beneath the foliage, making harvesting simple without compromising the plant's appearance. The dense foliage creates an attractive display for patios and balconies.
Bright Lights Swiss Chard delivers truly spectacular visual impact with stems appearing in yellow, gold, orange, pink, violet, or striped variations alongside traditional red and white. Ready for harvest in just four to five weeks from seeding, this versatile green works beautifully in salads, as garnish, or in various recipes while serving as a garden showstopper.
Rainbow Candy Crush Kale introduces vibrant pink colour to the edible ornamental category. Unlike taller kale varieties, this type maintains a mounded, rounded growth habit. The striking combination of hot pink centers with bright green edges makes it equally at home in landscape plantings and culinary preparations.
Fairy Tale Eggplant presents a miniature option featuring white fruit with distinctive violet and purple stripes. The sweet, non-bitter flesh with tender skin and minimal seeds makes it excellent for eating, while its compact size (reaching 74 cm tall and wide) suits container growing perfectly.
Creating Your Edible Landscape
Combining these four plants creates a dynamic garden display rich in colour, texture, and culinary potential. The significant advantage of these selections lies in their adaptability to container gardening, enabling growing possibilities on decks, balconies, and in small-space gardens across Canada.
As Filipski notes in his weekly Growing Things Outdoors column, available online at edmontonjournal.com or in epaper format at epaper.edmontonjournal.com, the opportunity to grow beautiful plants that also provide food represents gardening at its most efficient and rewarding.
Gardeners seeking more information can email questions to filipskigerald@gmail.com, read past columns, or consult Filipski's book 'Just Ask Jerry'. Follow him on X (Twitter) @justaskjerry01 for ongoing gardening insights and advice.
