Well-placed culinary blooms are surprisingly delicious and bring unique and elegant beauty to the table. Many edible flowers are common garden plants, which provides even more encouragement for everyday gardeners to add them to everyday recipes. They are not just for chefs and connoisseurs.
Edible flowers fall under two categories: herbal flowers and edible garden flowers. Most garden herbs have edible flowers—though you always want to double check before chowing down on any bloom. Some garden ornamentals also have edible flowers, but only a handful of these are really tasty.
Beware Florist’s Blooms
There are a few caveats to eating edible flowers. First, never eat flowers from a florist because they have often been sprayed with chemicals. In turn, never spray garden flowers you intend to eat. Even pesticides and herbicides approved for organic gardening are a no-no. Flowers are too delicate to wash, so if you want to eat them, let nature tend to them.
Cultivating Edible Flowers
For the cultivation of all the herbs and flowers highlighted in the tables below, provide full sun, average moisture, and quality garden soil with good drainage. The addition of OMRI Listed Black Gold® Garden Compost Blend will improve performance. A granular fertilizer formulated for flowering is also recommended.
A favorite springtime edible flower recipe is chive flower cucumber salad. It’s very easy to make and will compliment lots of spring meal plans. To make the salad, thinly slice 2 cucumbers (peel them if they are thick-skinned), then make a dressing that combines 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1/3 cup heavy cream, 1 shallot finely minced, 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill. and salt and pepper to taste. Mix the dressing and cucumbers then toss with 2 to 3 chive flowers that have been trimmed and gently broken apart. The chive flowers lend a delicate oniony flavor to the salad that makes it extra delicious!
Popular Edible Herb Flowers
| Herb | Look & Flavor | |
| Basil (Ocimum spp.) | If your basil plants flower in summer, eat the zesty purplish or white basil blooms and green buds. They taste lovely on salads and veggies. |  |
| Borage (Borago officinalis) | Pure violet blue and flavored like cucumber, these early summer flowers look and taste lovely on any fresh savory dish. |  |
| Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) | Beautiful tufts of mauve blooms with pure chive flavor bedeck these plants in spring. Break them apart and use in place of chives. |  |
| Cilantro (Coriandrum sativum) | Umbels of lacy white flowers are the precursor to coriander seeds. Use the fresh tasting spring or fall blooms in place of fresh cilantro. |  |
| Dill (Anethum graveolens) | Yellow or chartreuse green dill flowers appear in spring or fall and taste as dilly as the leaves but add good looks to dishes. |  |
| Lavender (Lavandula spp.) | Lavender is a common culinary herb in the South of France. The flavorful summer flowers add charm and flavor to grilled lamb or herbed goat cheese spread. |  |
| Mints (Mentha spp.) | All mints have wonderfully minty summer flowers that may be white or purplish. Add them to any dish calling for fresh mint, from tabouli to desserts. |  |
| Oregano (Origanum officinalis) | The purple or white summer flowers of oregano lend potent oregano flavor to savory dishes. |  |
| Thyme (Thymus spp.) | The early summer flowers of thyme may be pink, white or purple and taste delicately of thyme. Sprinkle them on spring cream soups or salads. |  |
| Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) | Blooming intermittently in fall, winter or spring, rosemary flowers are white or purplish and pair well with grilled meats and savory salads. |  |
Popular Edible Garden Flowers
| Pot Marigold (Calendula officinalis) | These cheerful cool weather annuals have flowers in warm colors. Their petals have a spicy flavor and lend interest to salads. |  |
| Daylily (Hemerocallis spp.) | Daylily buds and petals taste almost like lettuce. The summer blooming plants have colorful flowers in almost every shade but true blue. |  |
| Marigold (Tagetes spp.) | True marigold flowers have a sharp, somewhat citrusy flavor that lend good flavor to heirloom tomato salads. |  |
| Monarda (Monarda spp.) | The zesty, somewhat minty flavor of summer blooming Monarda flowers can be used to decorate salads or desserts. |  |
| Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus) | Summer blooming nasturtiums have flowers that are peppery tasting, like watercress. They are beautiful and add appeal to fresh savory dishes. |  |
| Pansy (Viola hybrids) | Violas are cool season flowers with a mild, sweet flavor and bright color. They can be candied and used to decorate desserts. |  |
| Rose (Rosa spp.) | Rose petals can be used alone in fresh confections or used to make rose water. Be sure to only use garden flowers that have not been sprayed or treated in any way. Candied rose petals taste lovely with almond desserts. |  |
| Violet (Viola spp.) | Spring blooming wild violets have a stronger sweet violet flavor than hybrid pansies, but they can be used in the same way. |  |
