SARAH RAVEN’S TOP EDIBLE FLOWER PICKS
1 BORAGE Borago officinalis
This is a classic late spring/early summer flower, and we grow both its blue and white flowered forms. Its starry flowers are pretty, often to be seen decorating drinks in adverts for Pimm’s. They’re said to have a mildly cucumber-like taste, but I’m not convinced. Many plants in the borage family are edible, including garden anchusa (Anchusa azurea) and the flowers of that rather pernicious and invasive weed, alkanet (A. officinalis). All these are true royal-blue flowers and are perfect for adding prettiness to puddings and ice cubes.
2 CHIVES
Allium schoenoprasum and A. tuberosum
We grow ordinary chives for purple flowers (A. schoenoprasum) and garlic chives (A. tuberosum) for starry white pompoms – both are favoured by butterflies and bees. The flowers taste like a mild version of the leaves: in the case of ordinary purple chives, mildly oniony, and in the case of white garlic chives, a little more reminiscent of garlic.
3 CHINESE VIOLET CRESS Orychophragmus violaceus
Not very well known, these are one of my favourite edible flowers because you can eat every part of the plant. The flowers are mauve, deepening in colour as the weather warms, and the leaves and seedheads have a mustard-like taste. We grow it inside to ensure late winter/early spring picking, and we plant it outside in March for an April and May harvest.
4 COMMON MARIGOLD Calendula officinalis
This classic cottage garden plant offers a range of yellows and oranges in early summer. When pulled apart, the flowers give you orange petal strands, which look good over a bright lettuce salad or added to pilaf and risotto. We also now grow ‘Neon’ especially for these purposes, and it has twice the number of petals of any other variety we’ve trialled.
5 CORNFLOWER Centaurea cyanus
For edible flowers, we grow a mix of colours – some a single colour and some with frosted tips to their petals, such as ‘Classic Magic’.
6 COURGETTE FLOWERS
All varieties provide plenty of flowers, but ‘Defender’ F1 and ‘Nero di Milano’ are the most prolific flower producers in my experience. Pack the plants tightly at about half their usual spacing, so at 40cm (16in) or so, as they flower more prolifically under stress.
7 NASTURTIUM Tropaeolum majus and T. minus
From now until late autumn, nasturtiums are in season. They taste the strongest of all edible flowers and all parts of the plant are delicious. If protected against cabbage white butterflies with fleece or netting, the young leaves can be added to salads, while the buds and flowers can be used as the plants go over. The current general favourite seems to be the dark-flowered and dark-leaved ‘Empress of India’, but I prefer ‘Tip Top Mahogany’ for the wonderful contrast between its deep red-brown flower and bright green leaves. It looks as good in the garden as it does added to food. The one thing to say about nasturtiums is that they can spread like wildfire, so take care where you plant them. They love poor soil, too.
8 PRIMROSE AND POLYANTHUS Primula
You can pick any of the primulas (primrose, polyanthus or cowslip) from very early in the year. The modern varieties flower on and off throughout winter and into spring, but they really come into their own in March and April, flowering prolifically. We find some of the newly bred polyanthus varieties, such as ‘Stella Champagne’ and ‘Stella Neon Violet’, are incredibly long flower producers. As woodland-edge plants, they are happy growing in the sun or dappled shade, and they like moisture at their roots.
9 ROSE Rosa
Every rose petal is edible, so pick your favourite colour and perhaps a variety with good scent. Use them to decorate cakes and puddings, crystallised or not.
10 RUNNER BEAN FLOWERS
These beautiful flowers have a bean flavour.
11 SAGE Salvia
We grow a great range of salvias, with at least one flowering every month from May until December. Most have the typical sage-like taste, but a few are fruity and are great for adding to puddings. There are also hardy annual varieties and a huge range of tender perennials and shrubs.
12 SWEET WILLIAM AND PINKS Dianthus
All dianthus have that famous clove fragrance and they’re all good to eat. We use them from May to December, starting with sweet Williams, garden pinks (such as the highly scented ‘Mrs Sinkins’) and then carnations (such as D. caryophyllus ‘Chabaud Benigna’).
13 VIOLA
These are classic edible flowers to sow and grow all year – the more you pick, the more they flower. They’re easy to grow from seed and can be in bloom within eight weeks. The small-flowered violas are better as an edible flower than the large-flowered pansies.