Something weird must have been going on last winter while I was picking out the veggie seeds for this summer… or maybe there’s something weird in the water…. in any case there’s a definite purple tinge to the vegetable garden this year. I knew that these heirloom ‘Trionfo Violetto’ pole beans would be purple, but I chose them for the meaty, nutty flavored, stringless beans they produce. They turned out great, but whether it was temperature or bird attacks, it took them a while before the blooms started setting little beans.
I rip out bucketfulls of the volunteer verbena bonariensis every year, but even after the carnage stops there are still plenty of their airy purple flowers throughout the garden. They go good with the beans, but also match the ‘Ruby Perfection’ red cabbage on the other side of the path. I never realized how purple red cabbage is until this year.
The verbena also picks up the black-purple of the ‘black egg’ eggplant. Although the cold spring made for a slow start to the eggplant season, they’ve hit their stride now and are putting on decent sized fruit. The ‘Black Egg’ is turning out to be productive and tasty even though I’d rather the fruits were a tad bigger.
The ‘Red Wing’ onions are also doing great. They’ve sized up more since I took this picture and the purple flush of the bulbs matches up nicely with the purple phlox. 
There are regular green beans and yellow onions, but for some reason they haven’t done nearly as well as the purple versions. Go figure. It makes me wonder if I could ever get organized and disciplined enough to have color coordinated vegetable garden. In my case I doubt it, but it reminds me that vegetable gardens can look good too and if you ever want to give it a serious go check out some of the books by Rosalind Creasy. She wrote the book on edible landscaping (plus a few others!) and her gardens really are amazing.
sorta like suburbia 
What an attractive vegetable garden.
Thanks, nice of you to say that! Though I have to admit I’ve only shown the more respectable parts.
Attractive potager indeed, well done! The bean flowers are very decorative and as for Verbena: I have tons of seedlings everywhere. What is a black egg plant?
Thank you! I just have to make sure the flowers do not overtake the vegetables, it’s a dangerous combination in the fall when I have extra perennial seedlings and open ground as a result of harvests… last year three beds were completely surrendered to tulip plantings! 🙂
I refer to the regular dark purple aubergine as “black” eggplant since they are so dark compared to some of the other varieties.
I do know aubergine as egg plant but yours looks rather exotic – might be the variety.
Oh I see now. Yes, it’s the variety, here’s the excerpt from the seed vendor (Pinetree Garden Seeds) “Black Egg-The fruit resemble black bombs or teardrops because both the skin and the calyx are a deep black with a purplish tinge. There are probably others but this is the only eggplant we know of with a black calyx. Japanese in origin, Black Egg produces unusually tender fruit on vigorous 3 foot plants.”
I wanted a traditional dark eggplant (last year’s choice of lavender/white fruits was not well received), so I chose this one. I was surprised by all the dark highlights on the foliage and stems, very unusual and I like it!
thank you for all the information and have a nice weekend 🙂
You have a color-themed garden without even trying! Good work!
Thanks, I’ll take credit even though none is deserved!