Edible Flowers for Your Garden

A kids' edible garden doesn't have to have just vegetables and herbs. There are edible flowers too. Here is a list of common edible flowers and how to choose the right ones for a kids' edible flower garden.

Caution
Never eat a flower unless you are absolutely sure it is edible. There are some flowers, although rare, that look like some that are edible but may be poisonous and even deadly. Use a very reliable source of information, such as your local agriculture department, an edible flower guide or a horticulturist that specializes in edible flowers.

Common edible flowers

• Pansies and Violas
  These wonderful flowers come in so many colors they would add a great delight to any salad and to your flower garden. Make sure they aren't sprayed with any harsh chemicals. To avoid sprays, grow your own pansies and violas. To get a head start, start the seeds inside about six to eight weeks before spring arrives.

• Nasturtium
  All parts of this plant are edible, including the leaves, stems, roots and especially the flowers. They have a spicy bite to them and are great in salads and sauces. They are easy to grow. While the common color of these flowers is orange, they can also come in red and yellow. Nasturtiums are often called watercress.

• Dandelions
  These invasive plants often get a bad reputation as being the most obnoxious weed. But all parts of this plant are edible. The leaves are tasty but sometime bitter. The flowers have a grassy taste and are great fried up or put in salads.

• Herbs: Chives, Basil, Chamomile, Chervil, Cilantro, Dill, Fennel, Lavender, Mint, Sage, Thyme
  Most aromatic herbs and quite a few others flower at some point in their lives. These flowers are a wonderful addition to salads, sauces and pasta dishes.

• Squash
  Did you know that you can fry up squash blossoms? They have a sweet flavor. If you want to use the squash blosoms, you will not get any squash fruit unless you plant more. Plant a few extra each year just to have some squash blossoms.

• Broccoli
  The broccoli that we eat is technically the flowering part of the broccoli plant. If you leave the broccoli in the garden, it will eventually open up and reveal its beautiful yellow flowers. These flowers are edible before and after they have opened up.

• Roses
  The petals of all roses are edible, even those wild roses. But you should make sure, as with any flower, that they have not been sprayed with chemicals. The tastes of rose petals vary from slightly bitter to a floral, fruity taste. They are great frozen in ice cubes to put in glasses of water on hot summer days.

What do kids like?
Eating flowers can be a tough decision for kids. It may be strange for them to think of flowers as edible. But you might be surprised how it turns out.

Try incorporating the flowers slowly and with other foods such as salad. Explanations and history of edible flowers might help ease any hesitations.

Safety first
There are some occurrences of allergic reactions to flowers that are commonly edible. When introducing edible flowers, like any new foods, introduce them slowly and in small amounts and be aware of any adverse reaction to the flowers.

Be sure you are using a reliable source of identification of these flowers. Use a well-known reference guide for edible flowers or a local specialist who specializes in edible flowers or wild food.

Creative variety
There are so many varieties of edible flowers that it's hard to just choose a few to start with. The kids will likely start asking you whether this flower or that flower is edible. Introduce your child to the world of edible flowers and plant a flower garden today.