Pansies can dress up a meal with a taste of wintergreen.

MCT

As any vegetable grower knows, a little effort in the garden now will yield bountiful and nutritious offerings from Mother Earth by the armload come September. Tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, carrots and the like are a delight when they’re picked fresh from the garden. One thing they’re not, however, is visually alluring.

Still-life paintings aside, garden-variety veggies usually don’t evoke the decorative appeal that flowers can impart to your home landscaping.

But there’s good news: with a little know-how and imagination, you can lavish your yard this spring with flowers that are both beautiful and edible.

Pansies and johnny jump-ups, roses and lilacs, there’s no shortage of ways to decorate your garden with a profusion of edible delights.

Christopher Robin Healy, an area permaculturalist and co-owner of Cloudburst Cultivated Ecology in Glens Falls, N.Y., says edible flowers extend beyond simple garnishing and can be used in beverages, entrees and desserts.

He cites Rosalind Creasy’s books, The Edible Flower Garden and The Edible French Garden as excellent resources for using flowers and herbs as edibles. “She’s created recipes for canapes and tea sandwiches using mustard flowers, calendula, and marigolds. There’s even a pound cake that uses geranium and rose leaves,” says Healy, who operates Cloudburst Cultivated Ecology with partner Montana Tracy.

Healy says virtually all roses are edible, but some, such as the gallicas, heirlooms, musk roses and damask, are the most hardy and fragrant and therefore taste better.

“I’ve had them in jellies and in custard,” Healy explains. “And making tea out of rose petals is as easy as drying them.”

“One of the yards I took care of had johnny jump-ups all around the property that were used in salads throughout the summer,” he says.

Healy adds that fresh or dried flower blossoms can be mixed with softened butter or soft cheeses for a flavorful spread. And while lilacs might not be traditionally thought of as edible, Healy said they’re excellent when crystallized with sugar. “It’s an easy process where you put sugar on the petals and let it absorb into the flower.”

Molly Kelly, a master gardener at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Albany County, says in addition to flowers, herbs and lettuces are both low-maintenance and decorative. “Herbs are a great way for people to start experimenting with edible gardening,” she says. “Not all herbs are the flowering variety, but they have interesting leaves and textures. They’re easy to grow and in most cases don’t need great soil.”

Healy says another easy-to-grow edible is the Scarlet Runner, a bean with edible flowers that grows along a pole and can extend up to 10 feet. “The flowers can range from bright red to yellow to orange. They look pretty and you can use them in salads or as garnish.”

Kelly says she uses lettuce in her own garden as a visual element. “There are hundreds of varieties with differing colors and leaf shapes. One of my favorites is Revolution, a red leaf lettuce. You can do very visual things with lettuces, like alternating red and green.”

Kelly, who is one of the volunteers helping to plant the demonstration garden at Cornell Cooperative Extension’s headquarters, said this year’s garden will include ornamental edibles such as curly parsley, Thai basil, and dill. “It’s a myth that you need a big yard to grow edibles,” she says. “As long as you have the requirements of six to eight hours of sun a day, lettuce, edible flowers, and herbs can be grown anywhere along the borders of a house or in a pot on the balcony. I’ve seen people grow potatoes and lettuce in containers.”

Each has their particular favorites when it comes to edible flowers and herbs: for Healy it’s lavender ice cream and fried (tempura-style) elderberry blossoms. For Kelly, it’s the peppery flavor of nasturtiums in salads. Both agree that partaking in edible flowers and herbs mean organic gardening is a must.

“It should be organic all the way,” says Healy. “Any pesticides used should be food-approved organic pesticides.”