Arley Hall - 2025
The 'Edible elegance' garden
a design led approach to edible planting
We wanted to turn traditional garden planting on its head — reimagining classic design with edible alternatives.
What if rosemary took the place of box hedging, lemongrass stood in for ornamental grasses, and edible flowers were woven through the border to add softness and colour?
This is a design-led approach to edible planting — where every plant earns its place by being both edible AND elegant.
The Edimental Look
The edimental style takes an elegant approach to edible gardening. It offers an aesthetic that’s closer to a herbaceous border than a vegetable patch. Everything earns its place — but with texture, structure, and softness in mind
Form & Texture
Herbs like rosemary and thyme can bring form to your planting scheme while the soft textured leaves of lemon balm and light and airy bronze fennel will add contrast and movement.
COLOUR THROUGH FOLIAGE
Focus on foliage first – deep red orach and amaranthus contrast beautifully with golden oregano and sage ‘icterina’.
Swap & reimagine
Replace ornamental staples with edible counterparts. Box becomes rosemary, grasses become lemongrass and silene vulgaris adds the romance of gaura!
Planting MOOD BOARD
structure
Angelica 'archangelica'
Softness
Bronze Fennel
colour
Red Orache
ground cover
Corsican Mint
foliage
Huacatay
texture
Lemon Balm
flowers
Cornflower
scent
Lemon Verbena
About the designer
After a career in finance, Helene has been building a values-led seed business focused solely on heritage varieties, with a mission to encourage more people to grow their own food.
Aware that not everyone has the space — or desire — for a traditional vegetable patch, she began exploring how edible plants could be integrated more elegantly into home gardens. What emerged was the realisation that it required a design-led approach — and a different kind of planting style.
Inspired by the elegant aesthetic of herbaceous borders, she began to imagine a garden made entirely of plants with edible qualities — a space that looked beautiful, but where every plant served a purpose.
In May 2025, she was part of the planting team for the Gold medal-winning Chelsea Pensioners garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show — an experience that deepened her interest in planting design.
The garden at Arley builds on that momentum — blending edible planting with a more refined, considered aesthetic.
The Edible Elegance garden is her vision of how food-growing can look — beautiful, useful, and completely at home in your garden.
Plant List
Here is a full list of all the plants included in our show garden. We hope this list brings you some inspiration for beautiful, edible* planting schemes that you can achieve in your own garden.
| *DISCLAIMER: The Heritage Organic Seed Company has provided this list in good faith to share the contents of our show garden. The Heritage Organic Seed Company has researched all of the plants included in the garden and we have only included plants that we believe to have edible qualities. Should you wish to consume any of the flowers or plants listed here it is done entirely at your own risk and we will not be responsible for any adverse reactions to anything consumed from this list. Plants, flowers and herbs can be extremely powerful. You must always carry out your own thorough research prior to consuming any plants, flowers and herbs and you must never consume any item if you have any doubt at all as to its safety. If you are pregnant, have any illnesses, are undergoing any medical treatment or taking any medication you must always consult a qualified doctor before consuming any plants, flowers or herbs. |
Recreate the look!
Here are our top tips to get started with edible planting!
- Pick dual purpose plants – look for varieties that are both beautiful and edible – think bronze fennel and lemon verbena.
- Add some structural plants – we used angelica, blueberries and cardoon for height and presence.
- Add layers – start with taller edibles like dill or bronze fennel, consider some mid-height herbs like mint or rosemary and even try some ground cover like lawn chamomile or corsican mint.
- Stick to a planting palette – choose 2-3 different types of foliage or colours and echo them throughout the space to bring the planting together.
- Add pops of colour – edible flowers such as cornflowers really break up a foliage rich planting scheme.
