Let’s face it: municipal planting has never been the sort of thing to make you stop in your tracks. But this weekend, as I scampered through Forbury Gardens in Reading, I stood stock still by the annual borders, which were packed with vegetables.

A thick ring of rainbow chard ran around ranks dahlias and begonias, and at the back of the gardens, the huge elephant-eared chard leaves were set off by gorgeous ‘Black Pearl’ chilli plants.

This sort of inventive planting is so inspiring as it shows that vegetables are utterly gorgeous and deserve their place in any plot, even if you’re mad enough not to want to eat them. Chard and ‘Black Pearl’ chillies are some of the prettiest, bringing superb coloured-foliage into the garden, and both work superbly as edging plants.

If you’re trying to create a hot plot, have a look at our list of the most beautiful vegetables, and the most beautiful flowering vegetables.