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a list of edible flowers!
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Early each spring, you have the perfect opportunity to have
a brief but intense love affair with an array of cool-season herbs and edible
flowers.* If trying something new, exciting, colorful and tasty appeals to
you, now is the perfect time to get planting! Warm days and cool nights
provide the ideal growing conditions for numerous flowering annual herbs. The
following selections are just a few of the plants that we offer, and all enjoy
the cool evenings and warm days that are so prevalent this time of year.
Planted in late February or March, these plants will thrive for several months—or
until the weather really heats up. (Click here
for recipes featured in our spring newsletter using edible flowers, or go to
the Recipe page.)
Borage (Borago officinalis)
is best known for its sky-blue star-shaped flowers and its wonderful cucumber
flavor, which is found in both the leaves and blossoms. When young and tender,
the leaves can bite and sugar. Or, just let borage bloom. The flowers are
beneficial to your vegetable garden since the blossoms attract bees, which
play a vital role in pollinating squash, cucumbers, strawberries and many
other crops. Borage plants grow 2 to 3 feet tall and are a beautiful sight in
the garden. Spring is a good time to plant borage—a light frost won’t hurt
the plants and the cool temperatures allow it to get established before the
weather warms up. Give borage a minimum of four hours of sun.
Calendula (Calendula
officinalis) flowers are valued for culinary, medicinal, and ornamental
purposes. The daisy-like flowers bloom in shades of apricot, orange, yellow,
and cream. The fresh or dried petals have a light flavor that complements
salads, omelets, rice, corn muffins, soups and dips. To get the most blooms,
cut the flowers regularly (they make excellent cut flowers) and be sure to
remove any spent blossoms. Grow calendulas in good soil amended with compost,
in full sun or part shade.
Johnny-jump-ups (Viola tricolor)
are especially delightful. They are like miniature pansies with faces; their
purple, yellow and white combination delights just about everyone. In the past
they were called "Heartsease" because of their use as a heart tonic.
Though not used medicinally today, the name still fits since they make people
smile and feel lighthearted. With a flavor similar to a mild salad green, toss
them into salads with wild abandon, float them in punch bowls, freeze them
into ice cubes, or press them onto cheesecakes, wheels of brie or dips. They
are completely cold hardy in Charleston so they can be planted any time from
October to March. An added bonus is that they tend to reseed and pop up the
following year! Like so many other annuals, the more flowers you pick, the
more they produce!
Nasturtiums!!! (Tropaeolum
majus) If you have ever seen pictures of Monet’s garden you know how
stunning nasturtiums can be. With their lilypad-like leaves and brilliant,
jewel-like colors, from flaming scarlet to bright gold and apricot-cream, they
are easy to love. Long ago, they were popular as bedding plants before all
flowering annuals were expected to be squat and tidy. Happily they are once
again in demand as people discover their culinary and ornamental value. The
leaves taste peppery like watercress, while the flowers have a milder
cress-like flavor. Though nasturtiums do like cooler temperatures, they do not
like frost, but with minimal protection from frost they will be just fine. Try
growing them on a porch or patio in a portable pot, or throw a piece of
newspaper or sheet over them when frost is predicted. Use the leaves and
flowers in salads. Make stunning appetizers by spooning guacamole, chicken
salad, or cream cheese into the flowers. The blooms also make beautiful
pastel-tinted vinegars which are especially tasty used on salads.
*Please be careful!
All flowers used in food must be grown in a pesticide-free
environment, which means you should stay away from commercially grown flowers.
No chemical pesticides are used at Pete’s Herbs, so eat as many as you want!
