When planning spring container gardens and window boxes, flowers are often considered first. There is certainly nothing surprising about that. After long gray winters, the cool-season annuals are irresistible. Alyssum, diascia, nemesia, pansies, snapdragons, stock and violas practically jump onto carts at local garden centers.

Go ahead, choose flowers first. Immerse yourself in the colors and scents of spring.

And then head to the vegetable benches. Vegetables take your container gardens from pretty and predictable to something special. They add color and texture, complimenting the flowers.

Lettuce is an ideal companion to cool-season flowers. Their large leaves are a lovely backdrop for the charming blooms of pansies and violas. Their bold texture contrasts the fine-textured foliage of snapdragons, diascia or nemesia. Lettuce can contribute color to container gardens, too. Bright green varieties brighten; red types enhance.

Lettuce is the just tip of the iceberg (pun intended) when selecting vegetables for your containers.

Bull’s Blood beets add a shot of bold color with their seductive deep red leafy tops.

Kale or Swiss chard is perfect for adding height to spring containers. Kale offers varieties with attractive frilly-edged foliage. Swiss chard boasts large, lush leaves and  brightly-colored stems in shades of yellow, white and red.

Another benefit to using vegetables in your spring containers is harvesting! Periodically pick some leaves for salads. And while you are at it, pick a few pansies to embellish your salads, too.

Spring flowers are beautiful and should be the star players in containers, but vegetables makes the spring show a blockbuster!