All one has to do is look at some of the new seed catalogs to notice that vegetable gardens are becoming more colorful these days. It seems like every new growing season there are more colorful varieties of standard vegetables like tomatoes, beets, carrots, beans and cabbage, not to mention lettuce.

Lettuces, especially the loose-leaf varieties, are some of the easiest vegetables to grow and today they are available in more colorful varieties than ever before. In addition to the standard green varieties, you can choose from those that have shades of chartreuse, maroon and bronze. Some varieties even have red-tipped leaves with lime green interiors to make your salads look super appetizing.

Most gardens wouldn’t be complete without a row or two of radishes. Many seed companies including Ed Hume Seeds now offer “Easter Egg” variety blends, which is a reference to their globe-like shape and bright color. The radishes in these mixes come in a colorful bend of red, white, rose pink, and sometimes even purple in addition to bi-colors, which have a red top and white bottom. As they mature they actually do begin to resemble Easter eggs poking up out of the ground!

In the past, most gardeners grew three types of potatoes: bakers, boilers and reds. In addition to the yellow fleshed varieties like Yukon Gold and Yellow Finn, spuds with purple and pink flesh are appearing in garden catalogs. Ronniger’s Potato Farm, which is one of the country’s best-known suppliers of garden seed potatoes, advertises the varieties ‘All Blue’, ‘All Red’, ‘Mountain Rose’ and ‘Purple Majesty’ in which the name refers to the color of the flesh. In addition, fingerling potatoes, which are small in size, but big in flavor, are popular in other countries and gaining favor here with gourmet cooks. According to Ronniger’s the superstar of fingerlings and easiest to grow is the variety Banana with a firm textured yellow flesh. Another colorful fingerling ‘Blossom’ has rose pink colored flesh. Most fingerlings are smooth textured, moist and great flavored.

Healthy, delicious and easy to grow green beans have it all, especially when you grow varieties that have golden or purple pods. Nichols Garden Nursery in Oregon’s famous Willamette Valley carries colorful varieties including ‘Purple Podded’ pole beans, ‘Royal Burgundy’ bush beans and ‘Rocdor’ wax beans, which produce bright yellow pods. Remember however, that purple-podded beans don’t tend to hold their color when cooked.

The rainbow stems of Swiss chard “Bright Lights” are so colorful you may choose to forget to harvest the sweet, succulent leaves. The 20-inch stalks of this plant range from electric yellows, pinks, crimsons, oranges, purples, whites and greens with some even striped! Great in containers, and showy enough for the flower garden, “Bright Lights” received an All American Selections Award in 1998.

There are a variety of colorful beets – orange, white and candy striped – but they all taste like the familiar red beet. Territorial Seed Company near Cottage Grove, Ore., advertises the variety ‘Chioggia’ which has light red, round roots and striking interior rings of alternating pink and white creating a feast for the eyes! In addition, the variety ‘Bull’s Blood’ features deep burgundy foliage that grows to 13 inches tall and has a clean, crisp flavor making it perfect for salads. No salad is complete without cucumbers, and Territorial advertises the ‘Lime Crisp Cucumber’ variety, which is crisp, crunchy and has a unique light green skin.

Even carrots aren’t just orange anymore. Ed Hume Seeds offers a ‘Rainbow Blend’ of carrot seeds which provides a colorful mix of red, purple, white, yellow and orange carrots which make for a real conversation piece in the vegetable garden and are ideal for children’s gardens.

Although most peppers start green, depending on variety, they can ripen to red, yellow, orange or purple. Even cauliflower, which is traditionally has a “creamy” appearance because the leaves are wrapped over the head to keep the sun from it, is now available with either purple or orange heads depending on variety.

And finally there’s the all time favorite of most gardeners – tomatoes. In addition to the traditional red and yellow varieties, the majority of seed catalogs now carry a long list of varieties that range in color from oranges to purple and even pure white!

EDITOR’S NOTE: For answers to local gardening questions go to (www.pnwmg.org) or call 360-249-4125, the WSU Extension office in Elma, or call Rachel Gana at 642-8723 or (acornwp@yahoo.com).