Growing Flowers for Flavor

Dress and spice up your dishes with edible flowers picked fresh from your garden

Photo: Olenka Sergienko via Pexels

There’s more to growing edibles than just fruits, vegetables, herbs, and nuts. Don’t forget flowers! Some of the blossoms you already have growing could easily find their way into your lunchtime salad, decorate your favorite dessert, or add the finishing touch to an artisanal cocktail.

Here are some common flowers that you can grow to cook with or to safely garnish a dish:

• Bachelor’s button/cornflower (Centaurea cyanus)
• Bee balm/bergamot (Monarda didyma)
• Borage (Borago officinalis)
• Breadseed poppy (Papaver spp.)
• Calendula (Calendula officinalis)
• Carnation/Sweet William (Dianthus caryophyllus, barbatus)
• Chamomile (Matricaria recutita)
• Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum spp.)
• Daisy (Bellis perennis)
• Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
• Daylilies (Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus)
• Hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis)
• Lavender (Lavendula)
• Lilac (Syringa vulgaris)
• Golden marigold…