At her New Hampshire farm, Marney Bean made the classic mistakes of every beginning gardener. But as her passion for plants grew, her garden became a brilliant study in composition.

Bean designed her vegetable garden to be beautiful as well as useful, so she plants striking, durable kales and cabbages among the more traditional tomatoes, onions, and lettuces.

Native wood ferns (Dryopteris sp.) in Marney Bean's garden.

A sampling of cuttings snipped from Bean's vegetable garden speaks to the ornamental and practical nature of these plants.

Clematis 'Jackmanii' climbs up and around a wooden birdhouse in Bean's garden, accompanied by native boneset (Eupatorium sp.).

Viewed from the storage space underneath the barn, Bean's garden becomes a tableau of color and texture in the New England landscape.

Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) and two types of thyme (Thymus serphyllum 'Aurea' and Thymus vulgaris) make a colorful, useful, and fragrant groundcover.

In a shaded corner of the garden, lamium, hosta, and a serendipitous feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) seedling surround a moss-filled birdbath.

As on many New England properties, stone walls are in abundance on Bean's property. She softens and accents them with large-leaf perennials, including Ligularia 'Othello.'

An old cherry tree (Prunus serotina) brings a sense of history -- and plenty of shade -- to Bean's verdant perennial borders.

This spot is where Bean first cultivated her garden more than 20 years ago. It has since grown into a sprawling, plant-filled series of paths and borders.

The view from a far, wooded edge of the property shows off a healthy, organic lawn.

Rock can make digging difficult, but it ensures a steady supply of stone for working into garden design, as shown in this simple path cutting through a perennial bed.

These sinuous lines delineating the bed and the lawn were made by tracing the arcs of an outstretched garden hose and then cutting the design into the ground.

'Miss Kim' lilac standards are beautiful even when they aren't in flower, and they add a sense of formality to Bean's herb garden.

Flowering herbs grow around stately artichoke plants and bring a touch of the Mediterranean to Bean's garden.