Top 7 Flowers to Plant in My Vegetable Garden (Annual Variety)

Did you know that growing flowers in the garden is not only good for the beauty it brings? Growing flowers is beneficial for your vegetable plants too. And what is a garden without flowers? I love planting all types of flowers around my veggies for their beauty and all the benefits they provide to the veggies growing right along side them. Here are my top must have list of annual flowers to plant in my vegetable garden.

Benefits of Flowers in the Vegetable Garden

Pollinators

So what are some of the benefits of flowers in the vegetable garden? Besides beauty and joy, there are several benefits. Pollination is top of the list. Pollinators are drawn to the bright colors of the flowers and want to be in a vegetable garden that provides that. Bees, birds, butterflies, and other insects will be drawn in by the flowers and stay to pollinate your vegetable plants.

Brings in Beneficial Bugs

Many of these flowers will attract beneficial insects into your garden. Beneficial insects are those that will eat the bad insects. The bad ones are going to eat your precious vegetables. You don’t want to spray anything to get rid of those bad bugs if you are wanting to eat your vegetables. So what to do? Bring in the beneficials so that you won’t have to be the one worrying about your plants being eaten. Insects such as ladybugs, hover flies, and parasitic wasps.

Repels Pest Insects

Some of these plants are not just brining in the beneficial insects, but will repel the bad bugs too. The smell of the plant can drive away certain pests. Or other plants are used as a trap crop and attract the bad insects so they stay away from your vegetables.

How I Chose These Flowers for my Vegetable Garden

This list of annuals are all flowers that I have grown in my garden for many years. At first I grew many of them because that is what my mom and grandma did. I knew that they were good to have in with my vegetables, but I didn’t know all the reasons behind it when I first started gardening.

All of these flowers are ones I have grown from seed. I have either started them indoors or direct sown outside. Several are readily available at the local plant nursery, but you will find that it is much easier to grow some of them from seed. You will also be able to have a greater variety within the types of flowers when starting them from seed.

Quick List of Flowers

• Nasturtium
• Marigold
• Sunflowers
• Alyssum
• Strawflowers
• Zinnia
• Calendula

Need More Info on Starting Seeds both Inside and Outdoors? Click Here

More Detail on Each Type of Flower for the Vegetable Garden

Nasturtiums

Nasturtiums are one of my favorite flowers to grow in the garden. I love how they look cascading out of a garden bed with their lush green leaves and flowers that add a bright pop of color. They bring a really lush feel to the garden and I love that.

Nasturtiums are easy to plant. I’ve always grown them from seed. Once my vegetables are planted around the garden, I go around popping in these nice big seeds right around the edges of the beds. They can be started indoors, but I find it best to direct sow outside. They want it to be warm when sown outdoors and like full sun or partial shade.

Nasturtiums were actually my first encounter with seed saving as I walked by one day and saw their big seeds just dropping to the ground. Read more about how to save their seeds along with other flowers here.

Did you know that nasturtiums are actually edible? The entire plant is edible, but most people just use the flowers for salads. However the leaves, stems, and even the seeds can be eaten while still green. They have a peppery flavor.

Bees love nasturtiums as do hummingbirds. They are also known as a trap crop. That means they will attract the aphids and cabbage worms away from your vegetables. They might be slightly damaged, but nothing compared to if those same insects find your edible crops.

If you haven’t tried out nasturtiums in your vegetable garden yet, I suggest getting a beautiful cascading type such as Amazon Jewel or Alaska Mix.

Marigolds

I remember my grandma always having marigolds in her garden, but my mom never liked the smell. But I know I read somewhere along the way that they made a good companion to tomatoes. So most years I have planted them around my tomatoes.

Now I know that the smell can be a bit strong and that is good for being a great deterrent to some pest insects.

Marigolds will also repel or stop root knot nematodes which are bad for tomatoes, squash, and melons. You don’t see these bad bugs because they are underground destroying the roots of your vegetables. Planting marigolds will help keep them away. And when the garden season is done, you will want to leave those roots underground. Clip the plant at the dirt level to leave the roots in tact to continue the protection of the next season’s vegetables.

Along with keeping bad bugs away, marigolds are great at attracting ladybugs, butterflies, hoverflies, and parasitic wasps. While attracting beneficials, marigolds are also a good deer deterrent.

I usually plant marigolds with my tomatoes. They are a great companion plant for herbs too as the aphids will be attracted to the marigold flowers more. While we don’t eat them, the flowers are edible for humans and chickens. Your chicken egg yokes might be a deep orange if you feed marigold flowers.

I have direct sown after the last frost and also started seeds indoors. They are great at self seeding if you don’t dead head them and leave the flowers to fall off on their own. Marigolds are another flower that are very easy to save seeds from.

Plant marigolds in full sun, and if you want them to continue flowering, keep dead heading them.

Did You Know You can Save Seeds from Almost All These Garden Flowers? Click here to find out more on How to Save Seeds

Sunflowers

Sunflowers have always been one of my favorite flowers, but one I have not had in my garden until the last few years. They make me smile every time I see them and the sheer size of some of the mammoth varieties is just amazing.

One of the best part of sunflowers in the garden is how many bees they bring. I always see so many bees on the sunflowers. And not just one type of bee, but many different types of bees. Bringing these bees to the garden is so good for pollinating your vegetables.

Sunflowers are also great for the seeds they produce. You can save them or leave them for the wild birds. We usually save some for the next year and also to feed our chickens in the winter.

Sunflower seeds can be sown indoors or out, but I have found the best success with direct sowing outside once the threat of frost has passed.

Careful to plant them where the wind won’t take them down. That was the issue in our yard the first few years I planted them. The only spot with enough sun also got strong winds about once a month and I didn’t plant them dense enough to withstand the winds. So be aware of wind flow or be prepared to stake them for support.

When the flowers have died back, leave them on the stock and let them dry out a bit. Cut off the whole head to dry out further if the birds are eating the seeds or it is raining a lot.

Sweet Alyssum

Alyssum is a flower that makes me think of my childhood as we always had it tucked around our flower pots. It didn’t get planted in the vegetable garden, but it should have. Alyssum is a great attractant with its sweet honey-like smell for bees, butterflies, flower flies, and stingless wasps – all great pollinators.

It is also a great flower to plant near any vegetable aphids love as it will act as a trap crop. So tucking in the alyssum with broccoli, chard, or lettuce is a great place in your garden to have this flower. Tomatoes also love alyssum.

Sweet alyssum can be started from seeds, but is also widely available at local nurseries, unlike a lot of the flowers on this list. It can be planted out a few weeks before the last frost date in the spring and likes full sun to partial shade. I like to tuck it in along the beds or edges like I do nasturtiums.

Strawflowers

Strawflowers are really fun to grow and are just so beautiful in their color combinations. In one plant, the rich colors vary and pop with variety.

Pollinators love strawflowers. You will notice bees, butterflies, and hoverflies all swarm the strawflowers. A fun part of growing strawflowers is that you can harvest them and they will retain their shape and color after they are hung to dry. They are known as an everlasting flower due to this life it keeps while dry. They can be used in arrangements and still be beautiful years later.

Strawflowers grow well in dry, hot conditions, but do best with moderate temperatures and sufficient water. They want full sun and also do well in partial shade.

Zinnia

I am so excited for this year in my vegetable garden to have a large area set aside for zinnia flowers. I have only been able to dabble with a few small spots and it has never been enough. Zinnia grown in large swaths is my favorite with all types of colors mixed together. They make great cut flowers and the bees and butterflies love them. Hummingbirds are also drawn to the vibrant colored blooms of zinnia.

Zinnia do best when direct sown after the last frost and can be a bit more picky than the other flowers on this list for soil requirements. They do want full sun to grow best.

Zinnias perform best when they are regularly harvested for bouquets. This is a great thing since their presence on the kitchen windowsill is such a great smile maker.

Calendula

Unfortunately I haven’t been growing calendula for very long as I didn’t really know about it until I saw it growing in a community garden and loved how beautiful it was.

Fortunately I got some seeds after that and found out that calendula it is such a great flower to have in your vegetable garden for so many reasons. Technically this flower is an herb and is used as a medicinal herb and as an edible. The flowers can be collected for tea that is said to help with reflux, sore throats, and heartburn. It is also widely used as a dried flower to use in skincare products as it is so good for many skin issues such as rashes and burns. You will want to pick the flowers early in the morning after they have opened up for the day.

Of course there are reasons to add it to the garden. It repels pests insects well and is great at attracting bees and butterflies. It is a flower that will keep blooming the more you pick or deadhead it. I always leave a section, though, to dry out because saving the seeds from calendula flowers is really easy. You just need to let the flowers dry out and the funny little c shaped seeds will turn from green to brown and be ready to pluck off and save for next year.

I have sown the seeds indoors, direct sown outdoors, and also started them in winter sowing milk jugs. All ways seem to do well. They will want a spot in full sun in your garden once you plant them out after the last frost.

Are You Convinced to Add Flowers to Your Vegetable Garden Yet?

There are so many beautiful annual flowers you can add to your vegetable garden to help bring in pollinators, beneficial insects, and repel pests. These seven I mentioned are in the top for me as they are all easy to tuck in or the big burst of color just makes me happy. And what is gardening if it doesn’t make you happy to be out there?

Are there others that you think should be in the top spots to add to your vegetable garden? What are they? Leave me a comment as I am always looking for some new flowers to add to the garden.

Oh, and that reminds me! My favorite book that goes more into depth on this topic, but is so readable is called Vegetables Love Flowers by Lisa Mason Ziegler. Lisa has so much knowledge of the subject and is very down to earth in her approach. Some gardening books are very cumbersome to get through, but I zipped through this book a couple times and learned so much for my garden. I just checked out her website again, The Gardener’s Workshop, and there is so much good information there. She has courses and pod casts and so much. Go check it out if you are interested in flowers in your vegetable garden.

Other Garden Blog Posts

How to Save Seeds from Your Garden

Best Annual Flowers to Save Seeds from – Beginners Edition

Seed Starting Guide for Indoors and Out

How to Plan for a Homestead Orchard

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