Ciscoe Morris gives a whole new meaning to edible arrangements with flowers you can actually eat. Watch Ciscoe face off against garden designer Richie Steffan on Friday, February 24, in a new event called Container Wars at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show. The action begins at 11 am so don’t miss out! The Northwest Flower and Garden Show runs from February 22 - 26 at the Washington State Convention Center. Visit www.gardenshow.com for tickets and schedule of events.
Container Design made up of Edible flowers
What could be more fun than to snip flowers from a patio container design to use as garnishes on the salads and main dishes of your dinner guests? There are a wide variety of plants with edible flowers, so you can pot up a spectacular, edible display. Before, however, you serve flowers to your guest, make sure that the flowers are really edible by checking a number of sources, be it on line or in books. Remember that on some plants only the flowers are edible, and other parts might not be good for eating.
Never eat any flower or plant you can't positively identify and know for sure is edible. Remember that everyone can have different reactions to anything you eat. Treat flowers like mushrooms and try out a little piece to see how you react before eating lots of it.
Finally, remember that if nurseries don't sell a plant as an edible, they might have treated it with pesticides. Talk to your nursery and make sure the plants were grown organically, or grow them from seed yourself. If the flowers you are eating come from a long lived perennial plant, it's generally considered safe to eat them only after you've grown them for 2 years in your own garden.
If all of these warnings haven't scared you away, or you have a source for organically grown, certified safe to eat flowers, it's quite fun to do a container design of plants with edible flowers. Here's a gorgeous (if I do say so my humble self) design that tastes almost as good as it looks!
Centerpiece:
- Rosmarinus officinalis 'Barbecue' - Barbecue Rosemary. Long, upright stems of thick aromatic foliage are perfect for cutting and grilling. Use the stems as skewers to allow flavor and oils into the grilled food. Blue flowers are edible as well.
Fillers:
- Primula obconica -Obconica primrose - 12 inch tall, single pastel pink flowers. Flowers are popular as a garnish on salads.
- Primula primlet 'Lemon Shades' (Acaulis Type) - Lemon Shades Primrose. Attractive pastel yellow double flowers.
- Muscari sucheri 'Blue Magic' - Blue Magic grape hyacinth. The flowers can be sprinkled over desserts to add a delicate scented flavor.
- Thymus 'Silver Posie' - Silver Posie upright Thyme. Suitable for both ornamental and culinary use, this upright Thyme forms petite ‘bushes’ of fragrant gray-green foliage edged in creamy white. Foliage will develop a burgundy cast in cooler weather. Trimming hard after enjoying the lavender-pink blooms will yield more culinary leaves.
- Nepeta cataria - Cat nip. Aromatic and ornamental gray-green leaves are accented by violet-blue flowers in summer. Can be used in teas and tonics or as a fun intoxicant for cats.
Spillers:
- Fragaria vesca - White alpine strawberry. Small but, delicious, productive and attractive.
There are a lot of other plants with edible flowers depending on the time of year. Have fun with your edible container design!
