{"id":5485,"date":"2024-02-12T14:25:13","date_gmt":"2024-02-12T20:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/?p=5485"},"modified":"2024-02-12T14:25:15","modified_gmt":"2024-02-12T20:25:15","slug":"flowers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/flowers\/","title":{"rendered":"Flowers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Most of us love flowers. We send them to each other on special occasions. We use them to add color to our landscape. We place them in the center of our table. Sometimes we eat them. But not as often as you might imagine. Perhaps I should change that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a weird coincidence, my grandson and I gave each other bee houses for Christmas. I hung mine near my garden. Now, I\u2019m wondering whether I should include some edible flowers in my spring planting.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Pansies<\/strong> are one possibility. They\u2019re plentiful in my hardiness zone<\/a>, and they come in a variety of colors. That makes them a great choice if you love playing with color on a plate. The taste is somewhat reminiscent of lettuce, so they\u2019d be perfect for spring salads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Violas<\/strong> are a related species to consider. Their mild, sweet flavor won\u2019t overpower, plus they can be candied to use as edible cake decorations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Honeysuckle<\/strong> grows wild around here. I\u2019ve been stealing drops of nectar from it since I was a small child. Perhaps I should expand to deliberately growing it and using the blooms in jelly or dessert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather than something common, I could choose borage<\/strong>. The aroma of its leaves has been compared to cucumbers. The leaves are typically used in salads and lemonade. The flowers can be candied and used along with violas for unique decoration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Calendula<\/strong> is a versatile choice I can use in pasta or stir fry. I\u2019m a little hesitant to grow two peppery plants and I\u2019ll have arugula, but the flowers can be used in place of saffron and that is a real draw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hollyhocks<\/strong> grow well here, but I don\u2019t know of anyone who uses them in cooking. Perhaps I can start a trend by sprinkling them into my ingredient list. In fact, maybe a flower bed filled with hollyhocks and snapdragons<\/strong> is just what I need next to my new fence. I mean, why limit myself to the existing vegetable garden? The snapdragon\u2019s bittery flavor would be a nice balance for the sweeter floral varieties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not wild about the idea of tulips, roses, carnations, or marigolds. They\u2019re not exactly my style and with flowers, it\u2019s as much about aesthetics as taste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another factor to consider when growing edible flowers is outdoor chemicals. I don\u2019t use herbicides and my city doesn\u2019t spray for mosquitos, so I have a bit of control over what my plants are exposed to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obviously, chemicals can drift from a neighbor\u2019s yard. I\u2019m not overly concerned where I am, but the environment is something that should be addressed you\u2019re too invested in an edible flower project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only will I enjoy the beauty and flavorful touch of edible flowers, growing blooms should help me fill my bee house this summer. That would be great for my vegetable garden. Plus, now that my grandson has a similar house, it\u2019s a contest!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writing this has made me crave a refreshing drink garnished with a beautiful flower. Perhaps I should stick with passion flowers in tea. It\u2019s a bit early for a cocktail!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most of us love flowers. We send them to each other on special occasions. We use them to add color to our landscape. We place them in the center of our table. Sometimes we eat them. But not as often as you might imagine. Perhaps I should change that. In a weird coincidence, my grandson … Continue reading “Flowers”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[3573,3570,3572,3571,3568,3574,3569],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5485"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5485"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5489,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5485\/revisions\/5489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}