Good Enough to Eat

Edible has always intrigued me.

I’m a picky eater, yes, and am often more concerned with texture than flavor, but I love trying new things – I am all about presentation: if it looks incredible, I will be more excited about eating it.  As a kid I loved the freedom and adventure of going out in the backyard or woods and knowing about plants I could eat. We grew wild strawberries, among other things, and I loved searching the yard for a couple of fresh, sweet bites. I love that some plants have both traditional edible parts as well as other more unusual parts that can also be eaten. Garlic, for example – delicious in bulb, and incredible in flower! Plants with edible flowers make my day.

Many flowers, no matter how delicious looking, are not edible. I will come clean and admit I have tried a few I wasn’t sure about (don’t try it at home!), and they truly did not taste as good as they looked.

This is one place where the word “ornamental” should probably be taken seriously. As a child, it always bothered me – some of the most beautiful flowers blooming on trees with equally tasty names! How unfair that they don’t taste as good as they look and sound. This time of year is brutal in that regards – the ornamentals are teasing furiously with their blooms.

For this arrangement I used one of my favorite ornamentals – allium. These large purple ornamental onions will rock your garden. They are incredible alone, and beautiful in arrangements – big enough to make an interesting focal point, and delicate enough to work with other dominant flowers. Utterly versatile. Unfortunately not edible. …well, I guess I haven’t actually tried…