Fall and Winter Landscaping - plus the edibles!

We've been working in the main garden for a couple weeks now. Pulling plants that have finished or the season and making room for the fall and winter veggies. Tomatoes, peppers, okra and squash out. Greens, onions, garlic, turnips, beets and others in. We've added compost, turned the soil, and generally cleaned and trimmed from the summers growth.

BELOW: front goes from this...

To this:

Now we are turning our attention to the front yard! Our front and side yards are where we have a mix of ornamental and edible plants. Our edible landscaping! Like most gardeners, we enjoy plants of all types - mixing textures, colors and height. During the summer months much of the yard is dressed with begonias, petunias, cannas and other blooming flowers. We have ferns in the ground (returing year after year) and in hanging baskets. We've got hostas, vinca vines and various bulbs throughout. And much more - we don't have a lawn!

Most of this is on its' way out. So what do we do to fill the voids? To fill the hanging baskets and the flower pots?

Like many we grab johnny jump-ups, pansies and other cold weather bloomers. But we also toss in various lettuces and herbs such as cilantro and parsley. These also grow well in the colder months, going dormant when it's really cold and growing again during warm spells.

Various lettuces above, pansies and johnny jump-ups below

We plant them directly in the yard, in pots on the porch and around the house. Nothing can complete with the vibrancy, colors and lush nature of the plants we have in the south during the summer, but we can at least add some - plus a good bit of it ends up in the kitchen (by the way, pansy flowers are edible too and make a beautiful addition to top a mid-winter salad!)