One of the hottest trends in landscaping and outdoor living has found edibles—that is garden plants such as vegetables and herbs—making their way into traditionally ornamental-only landscape planting beds. While we have certainly watched this trend enter the Hudson Valley in Dutchess and Orange counties, nowhere have we seen it better represented than at the Edible Garden and Outdoor Kitchen at the Atlanta Botanical Garden.
The showcase features a stunning vertical garden wall that is home to a variety of herbs and other vegetables. Not only incredible to look at, the garden produces food 365 days a year and encourages the folks of Atlanta to grow their own food right at home.
It gets even better, though. The Botanical Garden also incorporated a fully functional outdoor kitchen adjacent to the growing produce, which they use to hold cooking demonstrations from May to October each year. They invite local chefs from the area to come in and share their knowledge with visitors. Any food that is not used in these demonstrations gets donated to regional charities. Talk about the landscape profession stepping up for the community?!?
While there may not be anything this elaborate here in the Hudson Valley and Westchester area of NY, there is certainly a movement to add some yummy edibles to the planting beds alongside your pool deck or patio. The team at Harmony Hill Landscaping is no stranger to designing and building custom outdoor kitchens. Who knows, very soon they may be adding some freshly growing herbs in the ground or on a wall, right by the grill. Sounds quite perfect to us!
Via Garden Design and Access Atlanta and Inhabitant. Images © Erica George Dines and Atlanta Botanical Garden
