In the Garden: Dead flowers can be feast for the birds this winter

After such a hot, dry and smoky summer, I can’t blame you for wanting to clean up your yard and move on to other things. But before you get started, I have a request: leave something for the birds to eat this winter.

A few years ago, fall came much earlier than usual. I ended up skipping my yard clean-up and figured I’d catch up in the spring. I’ve heard some gardeners do this on a regular basis but have to admit I was worried about feeling overwhelmed by the time spring arrived.

Every time I looked out a window that fall and winter, I was met with views of untidy flower beds that gave testimony to the “lazy gardener” indoors. Were neighbors and other passersby judging my gardening abilities, I wondered?

One wintry day, something wonderful happened. As I glanced out the window, a slight movement caught my eye. To my delight, I saw a goldfinch perched on the top of a black-eyed Susan seedhead, nibbling away. At one point, it had one foot on one spent flower, the other foot on a second, and was precariously close to doing the splits.

You Can Try Eating Flowers Like This

I remember eating flowers as a small child. I recall the pure, sweet flavor of a rose petal and the clovelike spiciness of a dianthus flower plucked from the garden. My father, who had shown me how to suck the sweet nectar from wild honeysuckle blossoms, was nonetheless upset when he caught me eating garden flowers. He didn't realize that many flowers are edible and, in fact, have been esteemed as food throughout the world for millennia.

Far more flowers show up on dinner plates now than they did ten years ago, when I first started working with edible flowers. Edible flowers are found in restaurants from coast to coast, featured in magazines, and included in cookbooks, but most people still regard them only as garnishes. Rarely are flowers appreciated for their unusual, varied flavors.

Flowers with a simple, sweet flavor as well as those with a perfumed or floral taste are unbeatable for flavoring beverages, fruit salads and cake batter. Pineapple sage flowers have a hint of spice; dandelion flowers are sweet when they first open but become bitter as they mature. Honeysuckle's sweet flavor is as magical to me today as it was when I first tasted it more than forty years ago. I make a luscious sorbet with the flowers, strawberries and water—no additional sugar is needed.

'Sensation', a showstopping lilac cultivar with deep purple flowers edged in white, is extremely flavorful and fragrant, but some varieties have a grassy flavor. My favorite of all edible flowers are the succulent, fuchsialike blossoms of pineapple guava, a tropical tree that I grow in a tub and move outdoors is summer; they taste like ripe papaya. Flowers with a sweet, perfumy flavor, including lavender and sweet violet, can be overpowering, so use them sparingly.

Sweet flowers can be an interesting addition to fruit salsas and fish dishes. Try flavoring vodka with the citrusy flavors of lemon or orange blossoms or tuberous begonias; the orange, yellow or red begonia flowers color the vodka as well.
Use only the individual florets of elderberry flowers; the flower stems are toxic. Coumarin in sweet woodruff's mild white flowers, a staple ingredient of May wine, can slow blood clotting; people with a clotting disorder or those taking a blood thinner should not eat the flowers.

People Have Been Eating Flowers For Centuries

Believe it not, people have been eating flowers for centuries. The broccoli and cauliflower that we eat are actually clusters of flowers. Artichokes are also flower heads. Even some blossoms that look more like regular flowers-pansies and roses, for instance-have a long edible history.

Flowers can taste sweet, minty, or bitter. They give a special flavor-or even a pretty look-to many foods. But it is very important to know which flowers (or parts of flowers) can be eaten, because lots of plants are poisonous. Even if you know it isn't poisonous, it's better not to eat blooms that you find growing outside because you don't know if they've been treated with chemicals (pesticides) to control insects. Safe, edible flowers can be found in food stores. Or you can grow your own from seeds that come in specially labeled packets that tell you the flowers will be okay to eat.

After falling out of favor for many years, cooking and garnishing with flowers is back in vogue once again. Flower cookery has been traced back to Roman times, and to the Chinese, Middle Eastern, and Indian cultures. Edible flowers were especially popularin the Victorian era during Queen Victoria's reign.

Today, many restaurant chefs and innovative home cooks garnish their entrees with flower blossoms for a touch of elegance. The secret to success when using edible flowers is to keep the dish simple, do not add to many other flavors that will over power the delicate taste of the flower. Today this nearly lost art is enjoying a revival.

The culinary use of flowers dates back thousands of years to the Chinese, Greek and Romans. Many cultures use flowers in their traditional cooking–think of squash blossoms in Italian food and rose petals in Indian food. Adding flowers to your food can be a nice way to add color, flavor, and a little whimsy. Some are spicy, and some herbacious, while others are floral and fragrant. The range is pretty surprising.

It’s not uncommon to see flower petals used in salads, teas, and as garnish for desserts, but they inspire creative uses as well–roll spicy ones (like chive blossoms) into handmade pasta dough, incorporate floral ones into homemade ice cream, pickle flower buds (like nasturtium) to make ersatz capers, use them to make a floral simple syrup for use in lemonade or cocktails. (See a recipe for Dandelion Syrup here.) I once stuffed gladiolus following a recipe for stuffed squash blossoms–a little out-there, I know, but they were great. So many possibilities…

Chrysanthemums are an edible flower that can be used in different ways.

Chrysanthemum petals range in color from white to red -- and their taste changes from a mild broccoli to a spicy, peppery taste.

• Petals can be used as a garnish in salads. However, it is important that you blanch them before you add them to your salads.

• The leaves of chrysanthemums can be used to add zip to your vinegar.

• The leaves and stems of the Crown Daisy can be used to season salads or they can be added to stir-fries.