Adding flowers to the vegetable garden not only adds colorful interest but will help your garden stay healthy by attracting beneficial insects or discouraging harmful insects. While there are many good reasons to go natural in the garden, the resounding reason that every gardener can get on board with is that it just makes gardening easier and more abundant.
When flowers are coupled with all-natural gardening practices, it changes everything. It’s not just adding flowers or stopping the use of pesticides or any other one thing—it’s all those things working together that will invite nature in and let it do what comes naturally to help your garden grow.
Practical tips for the home garden by following these practical steps
Plant brightly colored flowers that attract pollinators in your vegetable patch. The more pollinators you have, the healthier your whole garden will be. Like Butterfly friendly plants:
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- Allium (Allium)
- Aster (Aster)
- Bee Balm (Monarda)
- Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)
- Blanket flower (Gaillardia)
- Butterfly bush (Buddleja)
- Catmint (Nepeta racemosa)
- Cornflower (Centaurea)
- Daylily (Hemerocallis)
- Dill (Anethum graveolens)
- False Indigo (Baptisia)
- Goldenrod (Solidago)
- Hollyhock (Alcea)
- Lantana (Lantana)
- Lavender (Lavandula)
- Lilac (Syringa)
- Lupin (Lupinus x hybrida)
- Milkweed (Asclepias)
- Nasturtium (Tropaeolum)
- Phlox (Phlox x arendsii)
- Purple Coneflower (Echinacea)
- Rock Cress (Arabis)
- Sage (Salvia officinalis)
- Sea Holly (Eryngium)
- Shasta daisy (Leucanthemum × superbum)
- Snapdragon (Antirrhinum)
- Sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima)
- Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
- Zinnia (Zinnia)
Grow marigolds! These cheerful sunny flowers attract beneficial insects and discourage pests.
Attract predatory insects. Hoverflies, wasps and green lacewings eat pests, so you want them around your veggie patch! Plant flowers that they love such as chamomile, cosmos, and daisies.
Plant lavender near your veggies. Humans generally love the fragrance of lavender, but it is too strong for crop-eating bugs and deer who view your vegetable garden as their own personal buffet. The scent will deter bad bugs and deer, while covering up the smell of your vegetable plants.
Give aphids something else to munch on so that they leave your precious vegetables alone. Aphids love nasturtiums, so why not plant a few just for them? They will distract the aphids from nibbling on the crops you care about most.
