Nasturtiums Mint Cosmos Marigolds Dill Sunflowers Lavender Zinnias Basil Alliums
Companion Planting for a Healthy, Productive Garden
Every gardener wants healthier, more productive plants. Fortunately, there is an easy and natural way to support that goal. Planting flowers with your vegetables is a beautiful and effective way to boost pollination, deter pests, attract beneficial insects and improve yields, whether your garden is a single raised bed or several acres of crops. Incorporating these top ten flowers to plant with vegetables will increase the biodiversity of your garden, improve its health and, in most climates, provide you with beautiful blooms from spring until fall.
What is Companion Planting?
Companion planting is the technique of combining plants with similar light, nutrition, and soil requirements that grow well together and offer benefits to their neighboring plants. Some traditional pairings include tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant, or corn, beans, and squash. Flowers and herbs are excellent companion plants to many vegetables because they attract pollinators with their colorful blooms. Some of them also act as pest deterrents because of their strong scent. Others help by drawing in beneficial insects (like ladybugs and parasitic wasps) that eat unwanted pests. Planting flowers with vegetables is a fun and easy way to give your garden a boost.
The 10 best flowers to plant with vegetables:
Nasturtiums
This delightful plant is the very first flower I ever interspersed with my vegetables. Nasturtiums are edible flowers, with a strong peppery flavor and bold bright-colored petals to match. They are low growing, can tolerate some shade, are easy to grow from seed, and produce a chemical substance that acts as a bug repellant for white flies and squash bugs. They are also said to repel mosquitos – a bonus for any gardener! Nasturtiums bloom summer through fall, making them excellent companions to later producing crops, like tomatoes and peppers. They are small and compact plants, providing habitat for predatory bugs and can be used as a trap crop for aphids.
Plant with: Corn, cucumbers, squash, pole beans, melons.
Mint
Mint, especially catmint, is highly beneficial in the vegetable garden. Like other herbs, the intense fragrance of the leaves and flowers can be a deterrent to unwanted pests. Catmint or Catnip actually contains a known insect repellent that can help deter flea, cucumber and potato beetles, and cabbage moths. Catnip is also irresistible to cats, so it may be difficult to grow if you have them at your house or in your neighborhood. Mint also attracts beneficial insects like predatory wasps, hoverflies, and robber flies. All mints are notorious for spreading aggressively, so it is best planted in individual pots and placed strategically throughout the garden. Individual stems can also be cut and placed in beds to help protect plants from unwanted visitors. Be sure to let some of your mint bloom take advantage of the bees and other pollinators that the blooms will attract!
Plant with: Cabbage, kale, collards, cucumbers, potatoes, and beets.
Cosmos
A member of the Aster family, Cosmos is a beautiful cut flower and a helpful plant to many vegetables. Cosmos flowers attract butterflies, bees, and other pollinators as well as songbirds and beneficial insects. The delightful blooms are easy to grow from seed, tolerate full sun, handle drought and heat well, and do not require much space. They are a “cut and come again” flower, meaning you can be sure the plants will continue to bloom even with heavy harvesting. They are light and airy plants that mix well among taller vegetables and are available in a broad range of colors.
Plant with: Perennial crops, cabbage, tomatoes, potatoes, beans and peas.
Marigolds
Marigolds may be the most tried and true flowers to plant with vegetables in the garden – and for good reason. Marigolds’ bright blossoms attract songbirds, ladybugs, wasps, and other beneficial insects while its strong scent is a deterrent for chipmunks, squirrels, and rabbits. Marigolds are also often used as a trap crop for aphids and Japanese beetles. A trap crop is a crop that is planted to intentionally lure undesirable pests to a particular plant to keep them off of other plants but also to allow the gardener to trap and kill the pests – helping to control their population in the garden.
Plant with: Cabbage, kale, collards, broccoli, lettuce, root crops, and eggplant.
Dill
A tall, graceful addition to your garden, the dill flower attracts butterflies, bees, and other pollinators as well as beneficial insects including lacewings, small wasps, and syrphid flies. This popular edible culinary herb is known to repel cabbage moths and spider mites and is a preferred host to black swallowtail larvae – providing an important habitat for butterflies. Dill enjoys full sun and moist soil and will self-sow if allowed to go to seed. Its strong fragrance helps to confuse pests which can help protect nearby plants from predators.
Plant with: Tomatoes, carrots, greens, cabbage, asparagus, strawberries, potatoes, and rhubarb.
Sunflowers
These cheerful, often oversized, flowers, are a magnet for bees, butterflies, and other pollinators. Sunflowers also attract beneficial insects and songbirds to the garden. Its sturdy stalks can double as climbing trellises for vining plants like beans and cucumbers. Plant them in full sun and provide staking for the large flower heads as needed. Sunflowers are rich in nectar and their seeds are a favorite snack of birds. Planting sunflowers with your vegetables ensures a steady stream of pollinators in your garden throughout the blooming season.
Plant with: Carrots, greens, onions, climbing beans, squash, pole beans, and tomatoes.
Lavender
One of the few perennial flowers on the list, lavender is not only a gorgeous and aromatic addition to your yard, but it also is a good ally to the vegetables in your garden. Since it is a more permanent addition to the landscape, plant lavender near your garden beds in a spot with full sun and well-draining soil. The scented stems and blossoms repel deer, ticks, and mice and are offensive to cabbage moths and tobacco and tomato hornworms. The flowers are a favorite of bees and other pollinators and are wonderful as a fresh cut or dried flower for bouquets.
Plant with: Tomatoes, cabbage, kale, and collards.
Zinnias
Another member of the Aster family and a beloved cut flower, zinnias are wonderful companions to many vegetables. Zinnias are available in a whole rainbow of colors as well as dwarf varieties, allowing gardeners to pick the size and color they desire for their garden. Its boldly colorful blooms attract butterflies and bees as well as hummingbirds, songbirds, and beneficial insects. Like cosmos, zinnia is a cut-and-come-again flower, so the more often you cut the flowers, the more flowers the plant will produce. They bloom all summer and well into fall in most climates, only dying back when temperatures drop. Plant zinnias in full sun with well-draining soil and enjoy all the helpful friends these cheerful flowers attract!
Plant with: Tomatoes, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower.
Basil
The huge array of basil varieties and the lovely blooms they produce make this aromatic herb a favorite of many gardeners. And while chefs may balk at allowing the plant to “go to flower,” permitting a few of your basil plants to bloom has perks for the vegetables growing nearby. Basil is another aromatic herb that helps confuse pests with its strong scent, deterring all kinds of flies, mosquitos, and asparagus beetles. In flower, basil attracts butterflies, bees, and other pollinators as well as songbirds and beneficial insects. It is also a lovely addition to a cut flower arrangement. Basil likes full sun and well-draining soil. Look for unusual varieties like lemon and cinnamon basil for an added olfactory treat!
Plant with: Tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, kale, collards, sweet potatoes, potatoes, and summer squash.
Alliums
This family of plants, which includes garlic, onion, leeks, and chives, is probably least known for its flowers, but any allium makes a good companion plant in the vegetable garden. Allium flowers are also planted in the fall and grown from bulbs. And like its odiferous relatives, smells faintly of garlic and onions! These delicate orb flowers, however, provide a jolt of color and unexpectedness in the vegetable garden, while deterring unwanted pests. Alliums are known to repel carrot rust flies, Colorado potato beetles, Japanese beetles, Mexican bean beetles, and aphids. The strong-smelling plants also deter rabbits and other four-legged critters who may wander into the garden. These flowers also make a fun addition to a cut flower arrangement but cut them sparingly since each bulb produces only one flower.
Plant with: Carrots, celery, beets, roses, raspberries, grapes, kale, cabbage, and collards.
A welcome side effect of planting flowers in the vegetable garden is, of course, the flowers themselves! If you’ve been wanting to incorporate cut flowers into your garden but have felt short on space, planting flowers with your vegetables is a great way to get started, just be sure to leave some blooms to allow them to do the important work of attracting pollinators, deterring pests and enticing beneficial insects to your garden beds. Thanks for reading and happy gardening!
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