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 Palette
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.
