Six Edible Ornamental Flowers and Recipes to Savor the Garden

 

 

 In every well-tended garden, some blooms do more than delight the eye—they tempt the palate. These edible ornamental flowers offer beauty, fragrance, and flavor, bridging the gap between the flowerbed and the kitchen table. Here are six lovely blossoms that can be grown, admired, and devoured—with a simple recipe to highlight each one’s charm.

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🌼 1. Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus)

Peppery, bright, and cheerful.

Flavor: Slightly spicy, like watercress.
Garden Use: Sprawling border filler, hanging baskets.
Recipe: Nasturtium Cream Cheese Spread

• Mix 8 oz softened cream cheese with 2 tbsp chopped chives, a dash of lemon juice, and ¼ cup chopped nasturtium petals. Spread on crackers or cucumber slices.

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🌸 2. Viola / Johnny Jump-Up (Viola tricolor)

Whimsical faces in cool weather hues.

Flavor: Mild, sweet, grassy.
Garden Use: Edging flower beds, container gardens.
Recipe: Candied Viola Garnish

• Paint petals with egg white, sprinkle with superfine sugar, and dry overnight. Use to top cupcakes or custards for a romantic, old-world effect.

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🌺 3. Hibiscus (Hibiscus sabdariffa)

Tropical beauty with a tangy bite.

Flavor: Tart, cranberry-like.
Garden Use: Bold statement plant in sunny locations.
Recipe: Hibiscus Iced Tea

• Simmer ½ cup dried hibiscus petals in 4 cups water with a cinnamon stick and 2 tbsp honey. Strain, chill, and serve over ice with orange slices.

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🌼 4. Calendula (Calendula officinalis)

The “pot marigold” with a saffron soul.

Flavor: Spicy, slightly bitter, like saffron or arugula.
Garden Use: Companion plant in vegetable beds, attracts pollinators.
Recipe: Calendula Rice Pilaf

• Stir 2 tbsp chopped calendula petals into cooked jasmine rice with sautéed garlic, peas, and a pinch of turmeric. Finish with a pat of butter and fresh parsley.

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🌸 5. Bee Balm (Monarda didyma)

Wild, shaggy flowers with minty magic.

Flavor: Citrus-mint, slightly spicy.
Garden Use: Pollinator magnet and deer-resistant border plant.
Recipe: Bee Balm Honey Butter

• Mix ½ cup softened butter with 2 tbsp finely chopped bee balm petals and 1 tbsp honey. Serve with cornbread or hot biscuits.

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🌺 6. Borage (Borago officinalis)

Sky-blue stars with a cucumber kiss.

Flavor: Fresh cucumber.
Garden Use: Self-seeding herb with tall, fuzzy stems and electric blue flowers.
Recipe: Borage Lemonade

• Muddle a handful of borage flowers with lemon slices and sugar. Add water and ice. Optional: a splash of gin or vodka for a garden party.

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Planting edible flowers is like weaving poetry into your garden—each petal a verse, each flavor a stanza. Let beauty be more than skin-deep this season. Grow these edible ornaments, and let your table bloom with every bite.

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Yes, you can eat daylilies!

 

Daylilies have been cultivated for over four thousand years beginning in China where they were popular for food and medicine. They were imported into Europe around the 16th century mostly for their ornamental value. Nowadays, we hardly even think of them as food. Each flower blooms for a day and then it's gone. What a shame to let them go to waste when they could be eaten.

Daylily blossoms can be enjoyed raw, steamed, dried, stir-fried and deep-fried in tempura batter. Serve them with noodles, rice and with other mixed vegetables.

Not only are the flowers edible, but all parts of the plant are succulent as well. Daylily leaves and tubers can be chopped and stir-fried along with mushrooms, squash, onions and many other vegetables. Daylilies aren’t only for summer eating when the flowers are produced. The tuberous roots can be harvested any time of year. Collect them when you dig the overgrown clumps to divide them.

With the rising cost of food and shortages of some items, thanks to the ineptitude of our politicians, you might be looking for something new and affordable to add to your table. Does your unreasonable HOA not allow you to grow a vegetable garden in your front yard? Grow edible flowers. If you forage in the footsteps of Euell Gibbons, add daylilies to your basket. You may find the common ditch lily (Hemerocallis fulva) growing wild in fields and, um, ditches. (Make sure you rinse them well.)

Hemerocallis fulva growing roadside

A few words of caution are in order. As with any food, some folks might have sensitivities or allergies. Nibble at first with caution. In addition, know that we’re discussing daylilies (Hemerocallis), not true lilies (Lilium species). You shouldn’t get them confused.

Hemerocallis

 

Lilium

The folks at Prepsteaders.com produced a fine video a few years ago titled How To Eat Daylilies. Christa Swartz did a very good presentation. I recommend it. So, enjoy the video, then order some daylilies. 

 

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How to Determine If A Plant Is Edible

Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia) fruit.

I don’t claim to be a fanatical foodie, though I love to cook and eat. But I am fairly serious about food, particularly native plants. My impressive credentials include:

• I used to subscribe to Gourmet Magazine;
• I’ve read Why We Eat What We Eat: How Columbus Changed theWay the World Eats by Raymond Sokolov, Stalking the Wild Asparagus by Euell Gibbons, Edible Wild Plants of Eastern North America by Fernald and Kinsey, Gather Ye Wild Things by Susan Hitchcock, and I’ve actually eaten some of the species;
• My family was overgrown with plantspeople.

One question that often enters my mind when eating any herb, spice, fruit or vegetable is, “How did someone decide THIS would be a good thing to eat?” Was it tested on "Mikey" first?

Kirsten Rechnitz, Head Instructor at Boulder Outdoor Survival School (Utah) suggests the following test for edibility if you’re in a survival situation where you have to subsist on mice and a few greens.

“The first thing you want to do is take a tiny bit of it and rub it on the inside of your wrist. And then you want to wait a number of hours to see if you have a reaction. If you don’t have a reaction…take the tiniest of bites, put it on your tongue, leave it there for a few seconds and then spit it out, and then rinse with some water. See what happens after a few hours, if you have anything going on. If you don’t, then maybe you want to take a tiny piece, chew on it, actually swallow it, take it down with some water. If you don’t have a reaction within a few hours, go for a small but larger gathering of that plant. Have that, then wait a full day and see what your system actually does. Anything like diarrhea, …itchy throat, ...stomach ache. Maybe that food isn’t actually poisonous, but it’s new to your body and if it’s causing you harm, you probably shouldn’t be eating it.”

That's one way it's done; courage born of starvation. Sylvester Stallone once remarked, “When I was a kid, my mother used to feed me mashed-potato sandwiches, Brussels sprout sandwiches; my brain cells were starving from lack of food. I'll eat anything. I'll eat dirt.”

Or, determining whether something is edible or delicious, even, can be born of an adventurous spirit.

There isn't anything I don't eat, although I'm not too keen on creepy crawly things. Other than that, I'm quite adventurous.  - Cherie Lunghi (Actress)

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