Emily's family loves to work together in the garden. They have a slight preference for flowers, as 60% of their plants are flowers and 40% are vegetables. They have 50 plants growing in the garden.

How many vegetable plants do they have?

.4 * 50 = 20

To find the number of vegetable plants in Emily's garden, we need to calculate 40% of the total number of plants.

First, calculate 40% of 50 plants:
40% = 40/100 = 0.40
0.40 * 50 = 20

Therefore, Emily's family has 20 vegetable plants in their garden.