Productive, colorful, and buzzing with life, the "Garden of Abundance" is more than just a design trend. It’s a mindset that invites us to rethink how beauty and bounty can thrive side by side.
This lush garden style often evokes the charm of a cottage garden while meeting the growing desire for sustainable, productive landscapes. It celebrates the idea that a beautiful garden can feed us, support pollinators, and inspire connection with the natural world.
Join us as we walk you through creating your own Garden of Abundance using simple design ideas, beautiful plant pairings, and a mindset rooted in abundance and gratitude— toward the land, the creatures who share it with us, and ourselves.
Plus, get a free landscape plan to inspire and guide your dream garden plans.
Choosing Plants for Your Garden of Abundance
A "Garden of Abundance" brings together the best of both worlds: ornamental elegance and edible functionality. It's a soft, romantic mingling of flowering shrubs, berries, herbs, and pollinator-friendly perennials, all woven together into one vibrant, living tapestry.
Think hydrangeas mingling with strawberries, lavender and rosemary lining walkways, Helianthus growing alongside compact berry shrubs in containers. Every plant has a purpose—some feed us, others support pollinators, and many do both. Whether planted in containers or sprawling landscapes, this look brings beauty, nostalgia, and purpose to every corner of your outdoor space.
Key Plants for an Abundant Garden
Fruiting
Plants
Bountiful™ Belle
Blueberry
Colorful foliage almost outshines the delicious, large, plump berries. New growth is a delectable icy rose on pink stems. The attractive foliage and compact size make it a lovely way to incorporate edibles into an ornamental landscape. Recommended chill: 800 hrs. Full sun. Up to 4' tall and wide. Zones 5-9.
Flowering
Shrubs
Seaside Serenade® Bar
Harbor Hydrangea
This compact form of the famed Annabelle hydrangea is perfect for smaller spaces. Masses of big, white flower heads put on a spectacular show throughout summer, and the straight, sturdy stems hold up even in heavy rain. Part to full sun. 4' tall and wide. Zones 3-8.
Pollinator-Friendly
Perennials & Herbs
Riverina Thomas
Lavender
Large flowers yield five times the aromatic oil of their parent types. Highly valued for commercial use, this midsummer repeat bloomer is a showy, strong garden performer ideal for a border or herb garden. Full sun. Up to 3' tall and wide. Zones 5-9.
Inspired by Nature’s Generosity
Photo by Jane Gamble
In nature, abundance thrives through diversity and cooperation. Plants share space, attract pollinators, and exchange nutrients. When we design gardens that mimic these patterns, we begin to participate in a quiet exchange—offering care and gratitude in return for beauty, nourishment, and ecological health.
This idea of reciprocity—giving back as much as we receive—is echoed in the growing movement toward gardens that aren’t just decorative, but meaningful and sustaining.
How to Get the Look: Garden of Abundance
Top 5 Garden of Abundance Design Tips
You don’t need acres of land to create this kind of garden. Whether you’re designing a small front yard, side garden, or even container groupings on a patio, this layered and lush style is flexible and rewarding.
Here are five simple design tips for bringing it to life:
1. Start with Anchors: Fruit Trees, Flowering Shrubs, and Vines
Fruit trees like apple, fig, pomegranate, olive, and avocado make beautiful vertical accents while producing seasonal bounty. Mix flowering and/or fruiting shrubs like blueberry, hydrangeas, and roses as mid-level anchors in your space.
Then, add grapes or kiwi on a trellis to define a garden space or create shade. These taller elements become focal points around which the rest of the garden can grow.
Black Jack
Fig
This attractive garden tree has an interesting winter appearance and produces especially sweet, elongated purple fruit in the summer. Figs are often hardy and prolific in zones 5 and 6 if planted in a sheltered location. Full sun. Up to 15 ft. tall and wide; easily kept to 6 ft. with annual pruning. Zones 7-9.
Bountiful™ Delight
Blueberry
An excellent blueberry for warm climates that performs well even in extreme heat, bearing small, aromatic, sweet fruit. The compact, bushy form makes it an excellent choice for the landscape, and could even be used to form an attractive hedge. Recommended chill: 300 - 500 hours. Full sun. Up to 3' tall and wide. Zones 8-10.
Kiwi Magic® Hardy
Kiwi Combination
A fruit-producing variety and a male pollinizer together in the same container, providing a higher yield of small, delicious, smooth-skinned fruit. This vigorous vine offers glossy foliage and fragrant white blooms in early summer. Part to full sun. Up to 25 ft. tall, spreading 12 to 20 ft., with support. Zones 4-8.
2. Blend Edibles with Flowering Ornamentals
Rather than placing edibles in rows, tuck them into your flower beds and shrub borders.
Consider Combining:
- Hydrangeas with strawberries at their base for soft foliage and juicy red pops of fruit.
- Bountiful Belle® or Bountiful Blue® blueberries with Little Darling® Lilac or Summerlasting® Crape Myrtle for a flowering edible hedge in warmer climates.
- Roses with rosemary for an old-world feel and herbal fragrance.
- SunBelievable™ Helianthus with Seascape Strawberry or Superlicious® Blackberry in containers for a patio full of color and taste.
Little Darling®
Lilac
What’s better than the sweet scent of lilacs? Having abundant blooms twice a year! This is a compact variety with a nicely rounded shape. Full sun. Up to 4′ tall and wide. Zones 4-8.
Nitty Gritty®
Peach Rose
Not just a pretty face, these very durable, own-root, fuss-free groundcover roses produce an abundance of lovely blooms while offering excellent disease resistance and a self-cleaning, easy-to-care-for habit. Full sun. Up to 3' tall, 4' wide. Zones 4-9.
Huntington Carpet
Rosemary
A beautiful carpet of deep blue flowers backed by green, needle-like foliage that forms an attractive spreading groundcover. This waterwise evergreen shrub has aromatic leaves are often used as a flavorful culinary seasoning. Full sun. Up to 2 ' tall, 8' wide. Zones 8-10.
3. Focus on Pollinator-Friendly Perennials
Add color and life by weaving in pollinator plants. Coneflower, agastache, bee balm, and lavender are all beautiful favorites for bees and butterflies. The more diversity in blooms, the more diversity in pollinators you’ll invite. Find more pollinator-friendly favorites here.
Pink Pearl
Agastache
Spikes of light pink flowers pair with darker buds for a two-tone effect. Shorter, compact growth with dense flowers. The ultimate pollinator perennial, adored by bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Full sun. Up to 16" tall and wide. Zones 6-10.
Sunseekers™ White
Perfection Coneflower
Layers of white petals encircle nectar-rich dark green cones that change to vivid lemon yellow as the blooms age. Attracts pollinators to sunny perennial beds and makes an excellent cut flower. Full sun. Up to 24" tall, 16". wide. Zones 4-9.
Balmy™ Lilac
Bee Balm
Vibrant purple flowers on a compact plant add punch to garden borders and attract pollinators. For instance, bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Compact, prolific bloomer. Full sun. Up to 12" tall, 10" wide. Zones 4–9.
4. Find Flow with Grasses, Herbs, and Pathways
Ornamental grasses soften the edges of hardscapes and add movement throughout the seasons. Curving pathways—lined with lavender or low-growing edibles like strawberries—encourage wandering and discovery.
Hidcote
Giant Lavender
A highly aromatic shrub with a bushy mound of narrow, gray-green foliage, and long stems of violet-blue flower spikes. Full sun. Up to 3' tall, 4' wide. Zones 5-8.
Karley Rose
Fountain Grass
The showy, super-frothy plumes and deeply arching foliage make this a winner for massing. Full sun. Up to 5' tall. Zones 5-10.
Prairie Dog
Switch Grass
A shorter switchgrass with sturdy stems that will hold up in snow, providing winter interest and shelter for birds. Full sun. Up to 3 to 4 ft. tall, 2 to 3 ft. wide. Zones 4-9.
5. Add Containers
You can embrace this look even if you’re gardening on a balcony or patio. Mix berries, easy-going flowers like dianthus, and herbs like lavender and rosemary in large containers. Try planting SunBelievable™ Helianthus with strawberries or blackberries, or combine lavender with dwarf blueberries in a sunny spot.
SunBelievable® Brown
Eyed Girl Helianthus
This award-winning, heat-tolerant, non-invasive annual sunflower produces over 1,000 flowers from spring until first frost. Full sun. Up to 3' tall and wide. Annual.
Seascape
Strawberry
A highly productive, ever-bearing variety that yields large, flavorful berries and has great disease resistance. Full sun. Up to 12” tall by 24” wide. Zones 4-9.
Superlicious™
Blackberry
Thornless, compact dwarf fruits twice in one season. Fruits more reliably than other, similar varieties. Full Sun. Up to 4' tall and wide. Zones 4-9.
Garden of Abundance Landscape Plan: Romancing the Edible Garden
Want to bring this dreamy, productive garden style into your own space? Here's a landscape plan by landscape architect and illustrator Lisa Nunamaker, as seen in the free and downloadable Best Landscape Plans guide to help you design your own Garden of Abundance.
This design works beautifully for medium-to-large garden spaces and can be adapted to your location, space, and conditions. Use it as inspiration to start integrating more edibles and pollinator plants into your existing beds, or as a fresh start for a new garden project.
1. Strawberry Shake™ Hydrangea
A gorgeous new panicle hydrangea, on a much more compact form. Sturdy stems support big, full flower heads that start out white and mature to a delectable pink. Part to full sun. Up to 5’ tall, 4’ wide. Zones 4-8.
2. Bountiful Blue® Blueberry
An award winning variety with the bluest of foliage! Pink-blushed flowers produce a big crop of large, sweet, juicy berries on a compact, mounded shrub. Full sun. Up to 4’ tall and wide. Zones 6-10.
3. Eau De Parfum™ Bling Rose
Big, delightfully fragrant blooms provide the classic romance of roses with the added benefit of disease resistance brought to you by modern breeding. Full sun. Up to 4’ tall and wide. Zones 5-10.
4. Thumbelina Leigh English Lavender
An extremely aromatic and profuse bloomer, this compact selection produces lovely spikes of violet-blue blooms up to three times per year! Full sun. Up to 18” tall, 12” wide. Zones 5-9.
5. Tuscan Blue Rosemary
Quickly forms an upright hedge of aromatic, needle-like evergreen foliage. Leaves can be used as a flavorful herb in cooking. Full sun. Up to 6’ tall, 4’ wide. Zones 8-11, or grow as annual.
6. Phenomenal Lavender
Elegant, sweetly fragrant mounds of silver foliage yield purple-blue flower spikes with outstanding ornamental and edible qualities. Full sun. Up to 3’ tall and wide. Zones 4-8.
7. Munstead Lavender
A rugged yet beautiful compact evergreen shrub with mounding, aromatic, gray foliage and an abundance of fragrant, rich lavender-colored flower spikes. Up to 18” tall and wide. Full sun. Zones 5-9.
8. Nitty Gritty® White Rose
This very durable, own-root, fuss-free groundcover rose produces an abundance of lovely blooms while offering excellent disease resistance and an easy- care habit. Full sun. Up to 4’ tall and wide. Zones 4-9.
Learn More About Gardening with Abundance
- Find a library full of free digital design guides here
- Sign up for our Grow Beautifully newsletter. You'll get more design inspiration, garden tips, how-tos, and first access to exclusive guides, webinars, and plants.
- Take a look at the pollinator section of the blog for a variety of stories about pollinator-friendly gardening.
- Learn How to Plant a Strawberry Hanging Basket in This Video
- Edible Landscape Design: Lessons from an Expert
- Blueberry Care Guide
- Ultimate Guide to Growing Berries
- Plant a Berry Garden for Winter Birds
- Top 10 Drought-Tolerant Edible Plants
- 5 Easy Steps for Growing Grapes
- How to Grow Fig Trees
- Elevated Edible Landscape Design
- Top Garden Tips for Attracting Hummingbirds and Birds
- Plant a Berry Garden for Winter Birds
- Modern Meadow: A fresh take on pollinator garden design
- What to Plant to Attract Butterflies, Hummingbirds, and Bees
- Ask an Expert: Best Pollinator Plants for the Garden
- Beneficial Insects for a Healthy Garden: A Visual Guide
