Dianthus

 When most people think about plant based food flowers rarely come to mind.  The most common edible flowers are broccoli, cauliflower, and perhaps artichoke and daylily.  Many different flowers are edible and have a variety of flavors and textures, from sweet and soft to pungent and crunchy.  Some can be the centerpiece vegetable and others to add flavor or color to a salad.  Dianthus flowers are the latter.  They have a sweet taste with a delicate constitution.  If you are growing these and you don't use pesticides or herbicides I recommend you give it a try!

Sweet Alyssum

 Sweet Alyssum or Lobularia maritima is a member of the mustard family.  Like other brassicas Sweet Alyssum's leaves and flowers are edible with a typical pungent flavor.



This plant is an annual that self seeds very readily.  It can be used in companion planting to attract hoverflies, whose larva eats aphids.  Bees are attracted to the sweet aroma of Alyssum.

A lot to do...

The world never sleeps. And neither do I. There is a lot of exciting things in the future of my gardening and the future of this blog. I hope that my readers find these things as exciting as I do. All my landscaping will be edible or medicinal. I am also experimenting with a variety of organic and permeculture techniques. Stay Tuned.

Geranium, Rosemary and Fava Beans

Geranium, Rosemary, and Fava Beans are three of the edibles I have growing at my place right now.




Geranium flowers are edible and have a very pleasant tart flavor. I have this plant outside and it seems to be handling the cold pretty well, it is rated for USDA zone 9b and I live in 8B/9A. It is used in companion planting to paralyze the Japanese Beetle.




Rosemary is a well known herb who's leaves go very well with meats and in dressings. The flowers of rosemary are edible as well, they have a sweet flavor with the typical rosemary overtone. Making a tea from rosemary is an excellent remedy for headaches, which my wife can attest to. Gardening rosemary as a perennial is possible down to USDA zone 7. In companion planting rosemary is used to aid cabbage, beans, and carrots by helping to repel their pests.




I planted these fava beans by seed in November. They make a nice winter or spring crop as they prefer cool weather to hot. Both the leaves and beans are edible. Some people may have a genetic enzyme deficiency that causes them to be allergic to fava beans. If you've never eaten these before don't indulge your first time.

Nutritional Value of Fava beans per 1 cup:
Calories - 187 or 9% DV
Protein - 12.6 g or 26% DV
Carbohydrates - 33.4g or 11% DV
Sugars - 3.1g
Dietary Fiber - 9.2g or 37% DV
Fat - 0.7g or 1% DV

Fava Beans are a significant source of Folate, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorous, copper, and manganese.

The Estimated Glycemic load is 13.

Fairy Lanterns, Pretty Face and Blue Dicks

These three Wild Flowers are found in the Sierra Nevada foothills. All three have edible bulbs and corms that may be eaten raw or roasted. The Blue Dicks have edible flowers as well. Because the edible portions are small and eating these will end the life of these flowers I recommend limiting how many you consume.


Fairy Lantern


Pretty Face


Blue Dicks

Sticky Monkey Flower

Here is another plant I photographed a while back. The leaves are edible.

Utah Twin Berry

About a year and a half ago I was camping with my family near Grand Tetons National Park when I spotted this lonicera growing. The berries are edible and I tried them. The flavor was pleasant but not too exciting.

Passion Flower

Last summer I took a picture of a Passion Flower (Passiflora caerulea) that I intended to plant, unfortunately it didn't make it. Maybe I will grow these in the future.



While not as desirable as Maypop or Passion Fruit this passiflora produces an edible fruit.

Been a long while...

It's been a while since I have posted anything on this blog. Circumstance have changed for the better recently and this will positively effect this blog. My wife and I have move onto five and a half acres. I will be growing a wide range of edible and medicinals as well as looking for native plant life and weeds. When we first moved here there were only a few landscaped plants; these being tansy, privet, and albizia (mimosa). The native perennials include California Bay Laurel, Grey Pine, White Oak, Live Oak, Elderberry, Redberry Buckthorn, and loads of Poison Oak.

Since moving here I have planted:
Two Pomegranates
Three Rosemary
Four black velvet Gooseberries
Three Goumi
Five unknown Opuntia
Eight Eastern Redbud
One Oscar White Mulberry
Two Black Hawthorn
Three Strawberry Trees
Two Lavender
Four Sage
Four Feijoa
Two Figs
One Chaste Tree
Two Service Berries
Four Chilean Guava
Loads of Strawberries
Two Golden Currants
One Red Currant
Two Maypop Passion Fruit
One Issai Hardy Kiwi
One Loquat
One Camellia sinensis
Three Society Garlic
Two Grapes
Five Raspberry
Three Oregon Grape
Two Aronia
One Mexican Tarragon.

Most of these are quite young and I don't anticipate any fruit this year. As these plants mature I will post articles and photos on them. We also have three raised beds, so I will be growing some annual crops as well. I will try to be more active this year, hopefully someone finds this entertaining.