Flower Power

This sixties' slogan, used to express passive resistance, perfectly describes the organic-garden flower. Flowers in these gardens are more than mere eye-candy. Companioned with other plants, they are part of a seemingly innocuous force working diligently to create a holistic environment.

For me, the most delightful things about certain flowers are their culinary prospects! Sweet or spicy, mild or bold flavoured, flowers add colourful zing and exotic flair to any plate. Just be certain the flowers come from a safe environment. Foraging is fine, but don't use plants found along a busy highway where exhaust fumes contaminate them, or city parks where chemical treatments are frequently applied. If you use pesticides or herbicides in the garden, then, for goodness sake, don't eat your daisies!

Some edible flowers have the brilliant ability to repel garden pests, too. Anise Hyssop keeps cabbage moths away, and its flowers add a delicate licorice flavour to dishes. Nasturtiums add vibrant colour and pepper to salads but, in the garden, aphids and squash bugs avoid them. Calendula or marigolds, poster-children for passive pest resistance, repel mosquitoes, moles, tomato horn worms and bean beetles, to name a few. Edible flowers beautify the garden while defending against most garden nibblers...all except the gardener who enjoys their spice and colour on the dinner plate.

Not all flowers are repellent to pests; some just taste good. Alliums lend a mild oniony-garlic flavour to the breakfast scramble. A salad gets a colourful pop and flavourful zing with a few violets or rose petals Edible flowers, whether mild, sweet, peppery, savoury or bitter, take an everyday dish and elevate it to the extraordinary. Some flowers, such as squash blossoms, will even stand up to cooking. Others, like hibiscus blooms, are best when brewed into teas. Many edible flowers are those of the edible herbs, including basil, chervil, cilantro, dill, fennel, mint, oregano, rosemary and sage. These herbal flowers, though tasting similar, are more delicately flavoured than the leaves or seeds.

The paradox of garden flowers is their ability to either attract or repel. Flowers like delphiniums or honeysuckle attract pollinators like hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies. The poisonous delphinium should never be eaten, but the beautiful creatures they attract are necessary to any natural habitat. Those critters do little to control harmful pests, though. For that purpose there are flowers, such as those in the daisy family, which attract the innocuous ladybug, who then dines on destructive mites and aphids. Asters or black-eyed Susans attract lacewings which gobble aphids and caterpillars. Sunflowers attract insect eating birds. Sweet smelling peonies will attract predators of root-eaters such as grubs. So, by strategically placing certain flowers among vegetables and herbs, gardens can flourish without using pesticides.

The third quality of the flower power trifecta is their nutritional and medicinal properties. The effects of some flowers are subtle, while others can be very potent. For this reason, it's advisable to thoroughly research the flowers you plan to consume to better understand their active properties and applications. Some can be ingested while others are used only topically. Your research may prove surprising: Echinacea is commonly known to have medicinal properties, but did you know day lily tea is also therapeutic? It's surprising the number of common flowers and herbs – and some weeds, too – which have healing and/or soothing qualities. There are even flowers higher in anti-oxidant vitamins (like Vitamin C) than commonly eaten fruits and vegetables.

So liberate your flowers from their ornamental status. Put them to work in your garden and kitchen. Their passive resistance to pests of all stripes will at least reduce or at best eliminate the need for pesticides. Then, while enjoying their floral beauty, you can count your savings, dine on the fruits of their labour, and perhaps even attain healing. Now that's flower power!