Top 5 Best Edible Flowers to Grow in Your Garden NOW!

Edible flowers are an often-overlooked aspect of any kitchen garden. Not only do they provide food for pollinators but they also level up any summer dish you prepare. They are easy to grow and add bursts of color to liven up your yard. Needless to say, why wouldn’t you add these to your garden.

These are my favorite edible flowers to grow in my garden.

Nasturtium

Nasturtium are the perfect spiller plant. They look best when randomly placed about as they are not a formal looking flower. The plant spilling amongst rocks is the perfect place for them to be. They look casual but add so much beauty wherever they are placed.

The seeds for these flowers are large so they are super easy to plant. In addition, they need very little if any work. As long as they get water and sun, they are good to go. They are an annual but they tend to just reseed themselves so that they pop up year after year.

The flowers of these are edible but so are the leaves. Both the leaves and flowers can be added to rice, couscous or pasta dishes. The flowers also add such a pretty touch to any green salad.

Marigold (Tagetes spp.)

Marigold plants are so beneficial to any garden. They attract beneficial insects to your garden that in turn protect your plants from aphids and other harmful pests. I always recommend using them around your tomato plants as marigolds protect them from pests, most likely from the marigold plant’s scent pests.

Marigolds are notorious for being very forgiving flowers. They can tolerate sun, heat and most soil conditions. The seeds for these are also pretty easy to plant but marigolds are also really easy to get as a 6-pack at a nursery. The flowers will provide color in the summer and well into the fall season.

Surprisingly, there are a number of other health benefits that marigolds provide such as treating burns, bug bites as well as reducing digestive symptoms. I personally like to make tea with dried marigold flowers. However, for a quick and easy use, throwing them on the top of a fresh green salad will immediately make your salad more special.

Pansies/Johnny Jump-ups

These are my son Chase’s favorite flower. They are so simple and delicate but they really add such an interesting touch to a garden bed. With their unique “faces” they make you draw closer to take a good look at them.

In our zone, (Zone 9) pansies are perennials meaning they will come back year after year. These flowers are usually the first flowers to peek out in spring and brighten up our gardens. They come in so many different colors that gardening with them is so much fun.

I like to use both pansies and johnny jump ups in salads but also really like to make ice cubes with johnny jump ups in them. A cocktail with a flowered ice cube will be the talk of the party for sure.

Lavender

Lavender is such a common flower in most gardens. In my option it can easily get overused, however, the flower is so easy to grow and so drought tolerant that it is a great choice for beginning gardeners. The smell of lavender is intoxicating and is touted for its stress relief. In a garden setting, lavender draws beneficial insects and is usually the center of bee activity in the summertime.