'Surprise Gardener' specializes in planting with style

If Susie Coelho doesn't inspire you to add some style to the edibles you're growing, no one will.

Coelho, host of "Surprise Gardener" on HGTV, will speak at Harvest in the Park, a festival sponsored by Home & Garden Television and the Daily Herald Sept. 14 at Friendship Park Conservatory in Des Plaines.

Area gardeners are encouraged to bring fruits, vegetables and other edibles to contribute to Plant a Row for the Hungry.

Coelho's show is all about making average yards, not estates, look great on a budget. And she insists an important part of her message is to create personal style rather than something that looks like it was put together by a pro.

The author of "Susie Coelho's Everyday Styling" is not a horticulturist and won't guess what's wrong with your squash, but she will suggest they'd look great growing on an arbor.

The former model, who was once married to the late singer and congressman Sonny Bono, will spend time answering individual questions and giving the owners suggestions for new looks.

One of her ideas is to make your vegetable garden look old-fashioned and European.

Coelho draws incredible mental pictures when she talks about growing up in Paris.

Her best friend would take her to the family's beach house, and they'd stop at an aunt's home in a small village.

"You couldn't even see the house; it was covered with greenery," said the television hostess.

"A lot of little houses were parts of castle grounds, but they had been broken off."

The back yard of the aunt's cottage had a formal design - an alley or gravel path separated a symmetrical arrangement of squares.

But the plantings inside these squares were more free-form.

"One would hold fruit trees and another vegetables, yet another roses," Coelho said. "She would send us out to pick stuff for lunch. It's a very interesting look."

Here are some of Coelho's tips for visually enhancing the edible sections of your yard.

Hide the veggies

Plant vegetables among the flowers, so it's not as obvious when the tomato vines start to look ragged.

Herbs should add beauty to your flower gardens because of their textures and colors, she said.

"Dill is light and fluffy amongst other plants, for example. As long as the watering conditions are similar you can plant any of them wherever you want to enhance your landscape."

Raised beds

Raised beds lend themselves to all kinds of decorative tricks. Plant a vine or an herb that cascades over the front.

Install a vignette such as a flowering bush and a boulder in one corner of the bed (this could work in any veggie plot).

Paint the frame of the bed green to blend with the garden, the color of the fence or building in the background, or a bright contrasting shade.

Grandma's plot

Don't hide your fruit and vegetable garden. Give it that old-fashioned look.

Start with an arbor - white or metal, depending on the style of your house. Flank it with a few pieces of matching fence or even a hedge or line of perennials or grasses.

This can be as simple or permanent as you wish. A gate or even just an opening between panels of fencing could substitute for the arbor.

A couple of stepping stones or gray gravel like they use in Europe would add to the charm.

If you have posts supporting the fence, they can also support your tomato plants.

Fruit trees espaliered against a wall at the back of the garden would be dramatically decorative. This means the tree is trained to grow flat against the wall.

Rose bushes and vines go in front of the fence.

Set a chair in a corner or a bench beside the arbor.

"You need your watering can and tools or a funky old table you found for $5 and don't care if it gets wet in the rain. Then you can put your little tools and stuff on display in the area," Coelho said.

The arbor needs something edible to grow up it - grapes would work.

And yes, she once saw squash climbing an arbor at a nursery in Pasadena.

Don't forget children

No one has enough time these days, so garden with your children and get some togetherness and teaching time, she said.

"With Plant a Row, kids learn they can share what they grow," Coelho said. "That's the essence of community."