For example, when ornamental grasses were becoming so popular during the late 1980s, I did not find them appealing and did not want to grow any. That is, of course, until I found a tasty grass substitute that I felt was both appealing and certainly more attractive than any of the true grasses popular at the time. I planted corn! My readers and my colleagues might find this quite weird, but I know it looked good and you can't convince me otherwise!

Many cool-season vegetables that are planted about now can also be useful as ornamentals, particularly if space in the garden is limited. Even if space in the vegetable garden is available, some people may prefer to grow some of the more appealing vegetables in more prominent locations because of the impression of abundance they provoke. Unlike warm-season vegetables that are mostly the "fruit" of the vegetable plants, almost all cool-season vegetables are truly "vegetative" parts, derived from foliage or roots. Color among such vegetables is therefore derived from foliage. Incidentally, broccoli and cauliflower—cool-season vegetables that actually are flowers—are not as visually appealing as even their own bluish foliage.

I don't know of anyone who has successfully grown impressive head lettuce, but with a bit of the gardener's work, the loose-leaf lettuces grow very well in the Santa Clara Valley. The various varieties exhibit a broad range of foliar textures and colors. Mixtures of many interesting varieties are also available. Lettuce need not be grown to maturity and then harvested as individual heads, but may be selectively "plucked" from the outside leaves of individual plants at the preferred maturity. If young greens are preferred and impressive heads are not necessary, plucking may commence when the lettuce is young. Don't worry about taking it prematurely, because the plants are still in the soil and will continue to produce.

Ornamental kale and cabbage are somewhat popular as winter-blooming annuals and are certainly more impressive than those grown as vegetables, but do not taste as good. (I was once a starving student of horticulture.) "Real" cabbage exhibits interesting bluish or purplish foliage, but does not much resemble the ornamental types with open heads. It is quite large, bold and "unique." Let's just say that one should be familiar with it before using it as an ornamental for the first time.

Chard, which is actually the foliage of a type of beet, can be very colorful. Red chard is likely the most popular, but green chard is also available. Other varieties with generally green foliage exhibit white, pink, yellow, orange, purplish, reddish, or pale green petioles (foliar stems). Like lettuces, mixtures of these varieties are commonly available. Real beets, as well as turnips and turnip greens, also produce bold foliage. Radishes and parsley produce more finely textured foliage.

Because only a few individual plants of cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower are necessary and because I lack patience to grow these few plants from seed, I usually purchase seedlings in six packs, which are also known as cell packs. The other vegetables should be grown from seed.

Flower of the Week: Painted tongue

Painted tongue, Salpiglossis sinuata, sounds like a recent grunge or Goth trend, but is actually a summer annual that may continue to bloom sporadically until frost, especially if spent flowers are deadheaded. Mature specimens are approximately two feet tall with sticky foliage. The narrow leaves are approximately two or three inches long. Flowers are approximately two inches wide and resemble those of petunias with a color range including pink, red, orange, yellow, purple and brown. Flowers may be irregularly variegated with both lighter and darker color.

Horticulturist Tony Tomeo can be contacted at 408.358.2574 or at LGHORTICULTURE@aol.com.