Edible Flowers to Plant in Your Garden this Spring

Edible flowers can add so much colour and flavour to your salads, baking, cooking and cocktails! Always make sure you properly identify flowers and only eat the parts of the plant you know to be safe for consumption. Here’s a list of common garden plants that you can add to your edible garden this spring.

• Violets are one of the first to flower in the spring and their purple faces are a welcome visitor to my spring garden. They grow prolifically and will pop everywhere, even in the lawn. You can use the flowers as a splash of colour in just about everything. Here’s a great list of things you can make with violets,.
• Calendula and marigolds have a spicy to bitter, tangy to peppery taste and they add such a pop of colour!
• Nasturtiums provide both leaves and flowers for a really peppery addition to salads and soups. This is a favourite!
• Dandelions are the king of edibles. Their first leaves in the spring are delicious in salads and the petals are subtle and have a honey taste. You can turn the flowers into the most delicious dandelion wine.
• Rose is an obvious choice. Here the petals and rose hips are both edible. Petals go well as garnish and in sweet dishes while rose hips make delicious jelly.
• Hibiscus is a tropical plant which has family members like Rose of Sharon that are more suited to colder climates. The petals, when dried, make the most delicious tea and lemonade.
• Sumac is a happy little tree that will grow quite in just about any conditions. When the drupes are bright red in early spring, pick them and swish them in cold water. When you dislodge the little red hairs that cover the berries in this way, you can use the water to make yummy lemonade. Dried sumac also makes great Za’atar spice.
• Pansies are so jolly! While they don’t have a strong taste, they do provide a wonderfully colourful addition to salads and are beautiful decorations for cakes.
• Peonies are beautiful and delicious! Use the petals to make jam.