divaqs's Blog
divaqs's posts about: flower
Jun 20, 2007 | 11:49 AM PST
Tags: Calendula , Calendula officinalis , edible , flower
Last year I planted a mix of calendula flowers (Calendula officinalis) from seed. I don’t remember really seeing any grow last year, though last year was pretty hectic for me and I wasn’t paying that much attention. This spring I did take notice as they have burst forth either from seed that was from flowers re-seeding themselves or from left-over seed that had not yet germinated.
I saw the first one appear a couple of months ago, surprisingly hidden under one of the giant leaves of my rhubarb.
Then others appeared
Surprisingly, I’ve noticed the color change some over time. Here are the same flowers, but about a month later.
I tasted some and was surprised. The taste is floral, kind of like rose, but sweeter. Though I’ve read that some could be bitter, so be sure to taste test yours before using them. My mouth felt a little funny afterward, kind of like it had a film of some kind of oil or soap in it. It wasn’t an unpleasant experience, just odd. I am going to try again and see if it happens again, before adding any of the flower petals to a salad or use them as a garnish.
Calendula flowers have something of a reputation as a medicinal herb, either as a topical skin treatment or as tea. I haven’t tried any of these out myself, but am planning on experimenting some more. It would be definitely interesting to try to make some Calendula soap, leveraging the herbal medicinal benefits.
As a landscape plant, I think they are really pretty, as I think the pictures demonstrate. They are a good mid-size annual. The fragrance isn’t particularly wonderful, but that is made up for with the visual appeal.
I hope to have Calendula in my yard for many years.
Jun 7, 2007 | 8:38 AM PST
Tags: rose , edible , flower
You might be doing edible landscaping and not even know it. All over world, people are growing roses, without knowing that they are growing something that is edible. As a kid I’d heard of rose hips being full of vitamin C, but who wants to eat a packet of seeds that can be chewy and unappetizing? Not me, especially not as a kid.
Since that time I have had rose tea, seen rose butter, rose sugar, rose honey, and more. I was introduced to rose tea at a nice restaurant and found it to be pretty good. Rose petals can be used in garnishes and in salads and in cooking. They are fragrant and have a delicate floral taste that varies amongst the different varieties. I’ve found that some of the darker roses can have a yucky metallic taste to them, so try tasting some before using them.
Personally, I prefer the taste of the red and wilder rugosa roses. The rugosa roses I have grown have had rose hips that were the size of cherry tomatoes, and had more fleshiness to them that had a taste that reminded me of sweet apple. The smaller rose petals are easier to use in salads, garnishes, and so on. I also like that my rugosa roses seemed to be more disease resistant and require less care.
I am not saying to not use other roses with larger petals, since even the larger roses can be used to flavor butters, sugar, honey, tea, etc. The range of color, variety, and beauty of different roses can be very appealing in a landscape.
I would not recommend tasting roses at the nursery or floral shop. Oftentimes those roses have been sprayed with toxic substances to either decrease decay or discourage disease.
I grow a few different roses in my yard. Most of them were there when I bought the house. I have pictures of some of my red ones.
This is a larger rose
This rose bush has many smaller blossoms
There are many recipes available for using roses. I would encourage you to take the plunge and try some. Personally, I think the next recipe I am going to try is rose lemonade. I will run it past my official taste testers, my kids, and see if it passes for regular use.
May 28, 2007 | 11:47 AM PST
Tags: cornflower , edible , Bachelor's button , Basket flower , Boutonniere , tea , flower
In my front yard I planted from seed about 6 different edible flowers last year, including blue cornflowers. I wanted to have experience with them all, both in how to grow them, how to use them in a landscape, and how to use them in the kitchen. I let them all go to seed and since that time, most of them have come back this year. One of the first ones that grew this year was my cornflowers, sometimes called by its Latin name of Centaurea Cyanus, or common names of Bachelor's button, Basket flower, and Boutonniere flower.
These are one of the only flowers that are a true blue color. Blue is my favorite color, so I jumped at the chance of having a blue edible flower. As you can see in the picture, not all of my re-seeded cornflowers are blue, but also come in shades of pink and light purple.
I made the mistake of growing these toward the front of my planting area, since the plants get between 3 to 4 feet in height at their full size, which blocks out my shorter flowers. They would look much better in the back.
The plant looks kind of weedy, and I’ve read that originally it was considered a weed in the United Kingdom from where it originated, though is now pretty rare there. I can understand it becoming a weed, since it was very prolific in re-seeding itself. So, I think it would be best controlled to having a backdrop location, with smaller foreground plants hiding all but the upper portions of the cornflower plant from view, but still allowing the blossoms to be seen.
Only the petals of this flower are edible. I would recommend trying a little before using it in large amounts, since some have reported having allergic asthmatic reactions to the pollen.
The flower petals are more stiff and fibrous, so not something you would want to put in a salad. The floral taste reminds me of roses, but with a little bit more spicy sweetness. It is a good flavor for tea.
May 16, 2007 | 4:17 PM PST
Tags: chives , Allium schoenoprasum , edible , flower
I think most people think of spices and cooking when thinking of chives, which are truly important things with this wonderful herb, though I’ve found it to also be a really attractive flower and plant in my landscaping.
This is a picture I took, just a couple of days ago.
In April and May, my chive plants blossom in a showy display of purple bulbous blossoms.
Later in the summer the flowers turn into a bulbous whitish grey cluster of seeds. I used to have just one chive plant in the location of the picture, but I’ve allowed my chives to seed new plants around it, forming clusters of plants.
For much of the rest of the year, my chives look kind of like tufts of decorative grass.
I use fresh diced chives all the time in my cooking as an onion substitute, for things like sandwiches, roasts, soups, mixed with steamed or fried vegetables, and so on. I’ve tried using the edible flowers in cooking, but found the flavor to be a little bit too strong of an onion flavor for my taste. If you like a stronger flavor of onion, there is a good chance you would like the flavor of the flowers.
I’ve read that chives lose very little of their flavor when frozen or dried, but I really haven’t had to worry about that since for about 10 months of the year I can get fresh chives right out of my yard.
Chives make for a great companion plant. Like onions, they repel a variety of unwanted pests, while still attracting bees. For this reason chives are now planted in amongst my front yard planting areas, my herb beds, and my garden beds.
As a medicinal herb, Wikipedia claims that:
“The medical properties of chives are similar to those of garlic, but weaker; the faint effects in comparison with garlic are probably the main reason for its limited use as a medicinal herb. Containing numerous organisulplide compounds such as allyl sulfides and alkyl sulfoxides, chives have a beneficial effect on the circulatory system, acting upon it by lowering the blood pressure. As chives are usually served in small amounts and never as the main dish, negative effects are rarely encountered, although digestive problems may occur following over-consumption.
Chives are also rich in vitamins A and C, and contain trace amounts of sulfur and iron.”
May 9, 2007 | 10:38 AM PST
Tags: tulip , edible , flower , spring
There are now more than 3,000 named varieties of tulips, coming in all sorts of colors, sizes, and bloom times. A couple hours drive, north of my home are fields and fields of tulips grown and sold all over the United States. In the springtime, people from all over flock to those fields to witness the beauty of the tulips and celebrate the ending of winter.
I too celebrate the blooming of tulips in my yard, as they herald in spring and bring color back to my garden in a way that drives away the doldrums of winter. I planted tulip bulbs a couple of years ago, during the fall, after ordering a collection of varieties described as romantic, with hues of red, orange, and yellow.
I got mine from a Dutch tulip company, which had an incredible selection of varieties. I haven’t seen anywhere else offer as much selection as the Dutch companies, so if interested, I’d recommend looking there first.
Tulips require a period of cold for them to bloom, which is why I planted mine in the fall.
My tulips have been pretty low care. In the summer the stalks die and I trim them back, not so much for the health of the flower, but to just keep my flower bed looking nice. A few of my tulips look diseased this year, in which they look burnt and didn't reach their full height. From reading on the topic, it sounds like what could have caused this is that they didn't get enough water in the growing phase, which is pretty important for tulips.
All parts of tulips are reported as being edible, though I have only tried the petals. I found the petals to have a pleasant flavor, kind of like that of a sweet pea, which is a flavor I have liked since I was a child. My kids like the flavor too and have shocked visitors to our house by nonchalantly eating the flowers as a snack. My Grandmother once told me that during World War II, people in Holland supplemented their diet with Tulips.
The petals can add great color to fruit salad or desserts. I’ve been meaning to try a recipe I have seen for awhile of stuffed tulips, in which you take a tulip blossom and stuff it, kind of like you would stuff a sweet pepper, and bake them in the oven. Since sweet peppers don’t really grow well in my area and tulips do, this has looked like a great and colorful thing to try. Tulip blossoms have some resiliency in their structure, so they would be good for something like this.
May 4, 2007 | 9:15 AM PST
Tags: pansy , pansies , viola , Johnny-jump-ups , edible , flower , salad , garnish
Have you ever considered surprising your dinner guests or family with a gourmet salad or entree? I am not talking about having food catered, or some packaged and frozen “gourmet” dinner, but making something great on your own. If you want to have something like is offered in the finest of restaurants, than presentation is important. One of the easiest ways to make a boring salad or dessert into something amazing is to include edible flowers. For example, a green salad with the pizzazz of purple or yellow petals is astounding, or how about a fruity drink, garnished by a lovely blossom.
Great edible flowers to do this with are pansies or violas. The range of color and variety of pansies and violas is amazing. I am growing Johnny-jump-ups, which are a common variety of pansy, but I have seen an incredible range of other possibilities at large nurseries.
My Johnny-jump-ups have something like a wintergreen-mint flavor, though the flavor can vary some by season. Sometimes different varieties and colors can have different flavors. Be sure to sample a little before using them in your cooking.
I would not recommend sampling any flowers in a nursery or at a floral shop. Many floral preservatives contain toxic chemicals and many nurseries have pesticides sprayed on their plants, which are also toxic if consumed.
I grew my pansies and violas for more than a year, or from seed, before starting to taste or consume them. Since planting them, the original plants have died away after having re-seeded themselves and come back on their own.
In the landscape, pansies look great in pots, mass plantings, and clusters. They grow well in sun to semi-shade and only reach a height of to six to ten inches, so are great as an understory plant, which is how I am using them. Flowers bloom in late winter and spring in warm areas and in summer in cool zones.
In general, edible flowers should be picked as fully open flowers in the cool of the day, after the dew has evaporated. Like any other garden herb or vegetable, be sure to wash them before using them. Pansies and violas have a bit more durability than many other kinds of edible flowers and will store fine for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator.
A good way to start using edible flowers is in a salad. You can even make a salad dressing using flowers. Another way to use them is as a garnish. A flower floating in the soup is a sure way to get conversation going at the table.
