Thumbnail: Blue flax and Black Magic kale

Flowers planted with vegetables attract beneficial insects and pollinators to the garden. Some of my favorites for the cool season vegetable garden include calendulas, violas, cornflowers and larkspur. They cheer me as I work among the vegetables.

In mild winter areas of the country you can plant flowers now that thrive in the cooler weather. They face less competition from weeds and pests and winter rains can lessen garden work.

Calendulas and violas always find a home in my winter garden. Both make good edging plants.

Flowers planted with vegetables attract beneficial insects which are the foot soldiers in the pest wars. Small flowers like those in the carrot family (anise, caraway, carrot, coriander, dill, fennel, and parsley) attract beneficial wasps and hover flies to the vegetable garden.

Hover flies are the most common beneficial in my vegetable garden and I’ve written about them here: Hover Flies for Organic Aphid Control.

Establishing insectaries in your vegetable garden can lessen insect damage and the need for chemical or “organic” controls, improve pollination and crop yields.

Zinnias, though a summer flower, persist even into November in my garden. Daily I see monarchs and west coast lady butterflies, fiery skippers, and solitary bees stopping by.

Here are some of the flowers to plant in the mild winter vegetable garden: alyssum, bishop’s lace, borage, calendula, cerinthe, clarkia, cornflowers, flax, forget-me-not, foxglove, larkspur, nigella, pansies and violas, poppies, scabiosa, snapdragons, stock, sweet pea. Also consider flowering herbs such as dill, parsley, sage, thyme and chives.

Check other blog posts I’ve written on the topic of flowers in the vegetable garden:
Attract Beneficial Insects to the Vegetable Garden
Grow Flowers to Attract Beneficial Insects to Your Vegetable Garden