Thursday, August 1, 2013

Edible Flower Affair For Smart And Sassy Gardeners

 You'll be the sassy garnish queen once you discover how fun things become when entertaining family and friends with incredible edible flowers straight from your very own garden.

The smart is in learning how healthy edible flowers are for everyone!! You will find that they benefit you, your garden plants, garden soil and all the beneficial insects too.

Your imagination is all that is required as you find yourself placing beautiful flowers in ice cubes for tea, or decorating green salads and pastas.

Perhaps you may get creative and try them as a garnish for sandwiches and desserts as well. A nice stiff stem and flower used as a skewer could create...well just plain fun!!

1. Heirloom organic rose petals, both beautiful and can add an apple flavor. Don't forget the hips for some added vitamin C. A great companion to grow with your grapes.

2. Sage....pineapple and peach blossoms are spiked with both sweet and fruity flavors. It is said it helps increase the attention span and quickens the senses as well as relieve anxiety.and elevate moods. I love these planted near my strawberry plants.

3. Pineapple Guava blossoms taste similar to the fruit..very flavorful and exotic too. Actually adding flowers from most of your fruiting trees could prove to inhibit the growth of cancer cells and prevent the spread of tumors. Fruit trees do so well when in and near your herb garden.


4.  Chamomile, my favorite for its fresh apple flavor. Float some blossoms in a glass of tea or add some the next time you prepare a tray of ice cubes. This is a great companion near your beans or other plants susceptible to aphids.

5. Hollyhocks taste a bit bitter but what a gorgeous showy flower to add to tea or garnish with. It is tremendous for helping treat sore throats and control coughing spells. This is a tall beauty and you might want to plant them as a backdrop for your cabbage plants. You might find them very helpful in controlling a whole lot of different leaf eating insects.

 6. Another favorite is Borage that has such a pleasant mild cucumber flavorThis herb companion is a must for every garden and especially for those who love growing strawberries. It is also really good for your soil too! The vitamins in borage have a long list for both your skin and inside as an immunity builder.




7. Johnny Jump Ups are so pretty when sugar frosted and dried to place on cupcakes! They are a whole lot of fun added to your ice cubes or to garnish salads. They are mildly sweet tasting and make the best natural ground cover and mulch in the garden. You must be a little careful eating to many of these because they contain saporins that can be toxic in generous amounts.


8. Hibiscus Rosella is my favorite blooms for getting that cranberry flavor. Just about everything that you could appreciate in health from cranberries you can obtain from this flower. They add a beautiful red color both in drinks and in baking. They seem to grow well with just about any plants as long as they get plenty of sunshine and space. The branches are very good for mulching too!

9. You get two for the price of one in this photo of both Allium and Cilantro blossoms. Members of the Allium family are known to help reduce the chance of heart attacks or strokes because they help lower your blood pressure levels. While cilantro actually helps reduce anxiety levels if you looking for a good nights sleep. I love growing these two plants together because they are so pretty in the spring and help ward off so many harmful insects in the garden. 

10. With Basil flowers iit is almost hard to know where to begin. This is a favorite with so many varieties all with different flavors from lemon to lavender. The one in this photo is the lavender. Most only think to eat the leaves of herbs, but the essence of flavor I find in the flowers. This herb grows famously among just about everything in the garden. It attracts bounties of bees and and helps promote good health for you too!


Happy Gardening!
Pammy






2 comments:

  1. Love your slideshow of edible flowers and the cover is priceless! Very cute and informative, Pammy! xo

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    1. Girls just gotta have some garden fun!! The cover model would be my precious daughter in law Monica. It's always a blast when the girls are in the house! Greenhouse that is ;)) xo

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