Center STAGE

Edible plants are often pushed to a garden's edges. Landscape designer Christian Douglas shares his strategies for pulling them into the spotlight.

- MIKE IRVINE

Christian Douglas has heard it all: Growing vegetables is untidy and boring, and the beds are impossible to incorporate into a beautiful and cohesive garden design. But even a quick glance through the landscape designer’s new book, The Food Forward Garden, proves that veggies and other edibles can be visually striking, far from boring, and your yard’s stars—even if your preferred aesthetic is a wild meadow, say, or a country cottage garden. “All this magic starts to happen when you put food closer to the house,” he says.

Seeing that bounty from inside your home encourages more time spent outside, better eating habits, and closer attention to a raised bed that may have exploded into weeds if it were out of sight, he says. Trading common ornamentals for edibles with similar characteristics (Douglas calls them “edible swaps”) can be a good gateway into this food-forward philosophy—think apple trees for dogwoods, blueberries for boxwood hedges, and passion fruit for vining wisteria. After all, he says, “Why not grow things that give us something delicious in return?” A location doesn’t need to define a garden’s aesthetic. Douglas turned this 5,000-square-foot lot in a neighborhood of ranch-style homes into a space that feels like a French country estate.

Douglas' book is equal parts inspiring and practical, with stunning photographs of his projects and tips for gardeners of all levels.

The Wild Meadow