This article was written for Annabel & Grace, which is now part of Rest Less.
Apart from using mint in your vase, like Annabel did to great effect here with a few of the other pretty plants from her garden, you can, of course, eat it. It is one of my favourite herbs because the smell is so fresh and it’s great infused in hot water as a healthy drink, a great garnish, perks up salads (fruit and savoury) and is easy peasy to grow. But you’ll find other delicacies in an average garden – not from your vegetable plot, but in your beds, borders and pots. Yes, we’re talking edible flowers.
Scented roses, lavender (see Mary Berry’s hugely popular recipe for Lavender Shortbread), thyme, primrose, sweet cicely and begonias, borage for example. Then there’s marigolds, another easy to grow flower whose colourful petals look great scattered on a buttery baked potato. Or nasturtiums, so colourful and deliciously peppery in a green salad – the leaves can also be used – chop both finely into butter for bread.
You can buy edible flower plants and seeds from Sarah Raven – several of which are on sale at the time of writing this.
Please remember some flowers such as foxgloves and lobelia are poisonous. Fresh flowers are best eaten as soon as you can, so pick them from the pot or garden when you need them, or pop some in a vase in the kitchen so they are to hand when you need a jewel like flourish to your cooking.