I don't plant a veggie garden, but I have my flower gardens. I like flowers that are different and make people stop to take a second look. I've tried a number of different kinds and some do well while others sure don't look like the pictures in the catalogs. One annual I've done the last few years gets some strange looks from people passing by. It's an elephant head amaranth and they look like elephants. I've also planted the amaranth called love lies bleeding, which has dangling tassel-like flower.
I've done the big castor bean plants. I love the huge leaves on them. They look so tropical. They don't get much of a flower on them, but the leaves make up for that. Looks great with other plants, too.
I've done different gourds a few times because I wanted to dry them and paint them up. I did the snake gourds one year and some were 4 feet long. They were so funny looking, but I didn't have luck with drying them. I tried another gourd the next year and no luck either. They just don't dry properly.
Here's some pictures of the amaranth.
Elephant head amaranth
More elephants
Love lies bleeding amaranth
Castor beans
