3 Garden Peas With Ornamental and Edible Appeal

Peas put on some of the most gorgeous flowers in the vegetable garden, ranging from crisp white to rich purple depending on the type. Our absolute favorites are 'Golden Sweet' snow peas, 'Oregon Giant' snow peas, and 'Desiree Dwarf Blauwschokkers' garden peas.

For a truly stunning garden display, set up an arbor or trellis and intermingle the seeds of all three varieties at the base while the weather is still cool in spring. In milder regions, you can also plant peas in the fall for a second showing.

The stunning 'Golden Sweet' will clamber right to the top of your trellis with vines stretching well over six feet, putting out purple flowers that give way to dainty yellow snow peas. Picked small, these are hands-down our favorite—and honestly, very few ever make it back to the kitchen. They lose their charm once they get too large, so stay on top of harvesting. (Not that we've ever found that to be a hardship!)

'Oregon Giant' sports white flowers on compact vines that reach just two or three feet, making them the perfect fill for the lower portion of your trellis. Their lovely green pods can be picked at a larger size than most snow peas. These are prolific producers, so expect plenty to share with neighbors.

The 'Desiree' peas produce the most charming violet flowers, and the pods themselves are a striking deep purple (shown). These are bush-type plants that do a wonderful job of covering the bottom of your mixed planting, filling in wherever the older lower leaves on other vines have thinned out. Typically classified as a garden pea, the pods are delicious eaten small as a snow pea. Let them size up a bit more and you can harvest them as a garden or shell pea instead.

This combination makes a real eye-catcher in any garden with cool enough temperatures for peas. The bonus? They look as wonderful on the plate as they do on the vine, especially tossed into salads. And snacking on them fresh right there in the garden—well, that's half the fun, isn't it?

Read about choosing pea varieties for your garden.

Gardening Jones is a Pennsylvania-based master gardener.Read her other Horticulture posts hereandlearn more at gardeningjones.com/._____________________________________________Find all you need to know to grow enough vegetables to supply an average family's food on just a quarter of an acre in Brett L. Markham'sMini Farming: Self Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre.

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