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Delicious & Delightful
Edible Flowers
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Nothing dresses up a salad or summer dessert more than a sprinkling of edible flowers picked fresh from your garden. They add a dash of color, charm, and delicate flavor to every dish. Imagine the wonder on the faces of the children in your life as you reach for a bloom and pop it into your mouth. They'll be delighted that they're allowed to "Eat the flowers!"
Harvest
edible flowers as soon as they open, in the morning or evening when temperatures are cooler. Store them in a cool place, in a rigid container to avoid crushing them,
until serving time. Rinse the flowers gently to remove any soil and lingering insects and scatter whole blooms or individual petals on festive birthday cakes, in delicate pastries, or atop cool summer cocktails. Have fun discovering new ways to enjoy them.
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Sow Now for Months of Edible Blooms
Many of the
edible flowers we offer can be sown directly in the garden
after all danger of frost has passed in spring, and will produce flowers in just a short time. Here's how to make it happen:
1. Prepare the soil. Choose the spot where you'll be sowing your seeds, considering sun exposure, soil, and the ultimate size of the plant. Turn the soil over with a spade or fork, breaking up large clumps and removing any stones. Smooth the soil and tamp it gently.
2. Sow the seeds. Read the seed packet carefully, noting spacing and planting depth. Follow the instructions carefully. Cover the seeds with soil and tamp the area firmly.
3. Water regularly. Keep the seeded area uniformly moist until the seedlings emerge. Water gently to avoid dislodging the seeds and young seedlings from the soil.
4. Thin the seedlings. Once the seedlings have emerged and have at least a couple of sets of leaves, pluck out any extras until the strongest remaining seedlings are at their recommended spacing.
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Tropaeolum majus. Prized for their sweet-spicy flavor, these dwarf, mounding heirloom annuals are among the most widely grown of all edible flowers. With a bit of a peppery tang, Nasturtium blossoms are often added to salads as a zesty garnish over a citrus vinaigrette. We adore the deep blue-green foliage of Nasturtiums almost as much as their flowers. We use the leaves as doilies under cheese platters, cakes and individual soup tureens in which the flowers float. Make sure to inspect Nasturtium leaves after a rain: the water collects like sparkling diamonds. Easy to grow in full to filtered sunlight, this beloved annual may be direct-sown after the last frost date in the spring. The plants will bloom all summer and into fall.
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This trellising heirloom yields single flowers in solid and bicolor orange, yellow and scarlet. Our Old-Fashioned Tawny Nasturtium Mixture can also stealthily trail and cover the garden, as you can see in this photo. Height: 5' to 8'.
One packet of about 45 seeds is $3.35.
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Our brilliant Alaska Nasturtium Mixture is a blend of gold, orange, salmon and mahogany flowers with the most gorgeous variegated foliage. The ivory-white variegation is more, or less, from medium green leaf to leaf. Height: 12" to 18".
One packet of about 45 seeds is $3.35.
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Bachelor's Buttons
Centaurea cyanus. Used as edible garnishes, a natural food dye and cut flowers,
Bachelor's Buttons are as gorgeous as they are versatile and practical. They prefer to be direct-sown in a nice sunny spot in the spring.
Bachelor's Buttons are hardy, summer-blooming annuals growing up to 3 feet tall.
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Herbs With Edible Flowers
These fantastic
herbs pack a double punch: Aromatic, flavorful foliage and tasty and beautiful
edible flowers. All four are attractive garden plants, as well.
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Matricaria recutita. This herb flavors sherry and induces relaxation. Imported from Germany, this tall, delicately apple-scented variety is not the short Roman type. Diminutive edible daisies with prominent yellow centers are perky on stems growing to 2' tall. Broadcast-sow in fall or very early spring as freezing enhances germination. Dry the flowers or use them fresh in herbal tea, soothing to the stomach and the soul.
One packet of about 2,000 seeds is $3.35.
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Allium schoenoprasum. Its delicate, tubular, hollow stems are dark green with a mild yet tangy flavor. After enjoying it fresh through the fall, we cut back the entire plant, discarding woody or brown stems. Clean, dry, dice and freeze it for use in savory omelets, herbed butters or for sprinkling over Potato-Leek soup. Its lavender-pink flowers create beautiful bottles of rose-pink Chive vinegar for light, zingy salad dressings. (OP.)
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Borago officinalis. Silvery-green leaves covered in softly bristled hairs grow on stocky 18" to 36" annual plants. Borage tastes like Cucumber but its mature leaves are a bit furry and won't suit every palate. Young, tender leaves are wonderful - use in salads, vinegars or soup stock. In mid-summer, Borage produces gentian-blue flowers, irresistible to beneficial insects and humans alike. Use in cold drinks or in decorative ice cubes. They are also lovely atop blueberry or blackberry desserts.
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Agastache foeniculum. Known as Anise Hyssop, yet not a Hyssop at all, this aromatic perennial has been grown for hundreds of years, strictly for its scent and appealing symmetry. The scent is strongly licorice with a touch of Mint - thus its nickname, Licorice Mint. Seedlings grow up to 36" tall; pinch to encourage bushiness. In summer, Anise Hyssop produces blue spikes of edible compound florets, loved by beneficial insects. This outstanding ornamental sometimes self-sows.
One packet of about 500 seeds is $3.25.
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The Best of the Rest
These classic garden plants would be more than welcome in our gardens even without the added bonus of their edible blooms. Their old-fashioned charm is sweetly irresistible.
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Calendula officinalis, The Pot Marigold. An old-fashioned favorite, this extremely decorative, edible flower is varying shades of deep saffron-yellow; hence, its nickname, The Poor Man's Saffron.
So very easy to grow, our Flashback Mixture is a glowing combination of semi-double flowers in gold, peach, apricot and orange with a splash of red on the petals' reverse. Height: 2'.
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Dianthus plumarius. Hardy, this low-growing, spring-flowering, perennial heirloom is one of the most sweetly fragrant of the edible flowers. A good cut flower, it has a slight clove or nutmeg-like scent that make it a delicious as well as a colorful addition to salads and desserts.
Our old-fashioned mixture contains white, rose and carmine varieties with contrasting flower centers. Height: 12 .
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Viola tricolor. With their mild, wintergreen-mint flavor, Johnny Jump-up blossoms are a prized, decorative edible from olden days. Often the crowning ornamental touch on Victorian tea sandwich spreads, these diminutive flowers are also strewn on cheese platters and dessert plate rims, candied for cake garnish or frozen in ice cubes for summer drinks. An heirloom perennial, Johnny Jump-ups have 3/4", violet flowers with yellow and white brushmarks. Height: 12".
One packet of about 400 seeds is $3.25.
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Tagetes tenuifolia. Not your grandmother's Marigold, Signets form compact, billowy mounds of finely textured foliage smothered in charming little dime-sized flowers. While typical Marigold foliage can have an overwhelming scent, Signet foliage is lighter and citrusy, and the flowers are edible, adding a lemony zing to salads. T
his spicy bicolored bloom has deep red petals with narrow golden edges and a bright gold center with finely cut, fern-like foliage.
Height: 10" to 12".
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We share our best-of-the-best
recipes
in our online cookbook so you can feed your family and friends well without feeling frenzied, and practical, hands-on
Horticultural Tips
to demystify gardening with seeds. It's not tricky or difficult: it's more like easy magic.
If you need help with anything, our office hours are Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. You can email us at
customerservice@kitchengardenseeds.com
or call us at (860) 567-6086. Lance Frazon, our seed specialist, is happy to help you in any way possible. He loves to talk seeds.
23 Tulip Drive * PO Box 638 * Bantam, CT 06750
Phone: (860) 567-6086 * Fax: (860) 567-5323
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