Pair Swiss Chard With These Flowers For A High-Impact Garden Bed

Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris) is an easy plant to grow in your vegetable garden, and you can harvest it continually by just cutting a few of the outer leaves as you need them. In fact, Swiss chard is one of those vegetables that will grow year-round in the garden. It's also quite an attractive plant, with its large upright and often crinkly leaves, and colorful stems or midribs, depending on which variety you grow. This makes it perfect for growing in ornamental garden beds with pretty flowers to create a gorgeous, high-impact visual display. When selecting Swiss chard companion plants, look for species whose floral colors you can match with the hues of the chard stems. Some outstanding flowers to consider include zinnias, nasturtiums, and daisies.

There's an impressive collection of zinnias known as 'Profusion' that will partner beautifully with Swiss chard in the yard. These cultivars are available in a range of different colors, including white, pink, and orange. The charming flowers only grow to a height of 12 inches, making them excellent for growing beside chard, which can get to a height of 2 feet. With this combination, you'll be able to create an amazing display, with brightly colored blooms adding vivid spots of color among chard's taller leaves. While zinnias are fairly drought tolerant, they appreciate some extra moisture during the heat of summer; your chard will be happy with it as well.

Nasturtiums are one of those versatile flowering plants that go so well with a multitude of crops in your veggie patch and are one of the best companion flowers to plant near fruit trees. They're also quite stunning in an ornamental garden alongside your chard. You'll adore the happy flowers in shades of yellow, orange, and red, as they create a bright radiant carpet among the taller-growing chard. The common nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus) is available in climbing and bushy varieties. The shrubby dwarf cultivars, like 'Strawberries and Cream' and 'Peach Melba,' only reach a height of around 12 inches, making them ideal for dotting around the chard. If you choose to grow the climbing type as a ground cover, be prepared to cut it back now and then, because it can take over if you're not vigilant. 

There are plenty of daisy varieties in the Asteraceae family that will pair perfectly with Swiss chard, but one superb species you might like to consider is the butter daisy (Melampodium divaricatum). This stunning plant has fuzzy green leaves and blooms with vibrant yellow daisy-like flowers all summer long. It reaches a height of 2 feet, which means it will sit quite happily beside your chard without overshadowing it. If you combine the butter daisy with chard varieties that have colorful stems, the resulting display will certainly impress you. Now that you've found suitable plants to grow alongside your Swiss chard, learn which companion planting mistakes to steer clear of as you start the patch.