My Incredible Edible Flower Garden

I don’t have much of a flower garden; it’s interspaced with herbs, weeds and potatoes plants. But it’s a glorious green after months of monotonous yellows and grays.

morning dew drops in my garden

Last year’s drought and record temperatures left many gardens withered and neglected; water was too scarce to use for anything but the necessities. On top of the extreme weather, my son decided to see what would happen if dumped a mixture of salt, soap and various other chemicals he found around the house into the garden. It killed everything, that’s what it did, even the plant that was protecting the house (luckily the evil spirits did not notice the lack of my rue plant).

So I can’t bring myself to pull out even the ugliest weeds, they all seem so beautiful to me. Don’t laugh at my sentimentality; you’d be the same if perfect blue skies lasted for eight months.

While most of North America and Europe are in deep freeze, Israel is just waking up. These flowers can be added to any green salad to make it a piece of art.

Pansies, edible and beautiful

Alyssum (left), nasturtiums (top right), begonia (lower right), all edible flowers

Wood sorrel (left, Oxalis pes-caprae L.) shepherd's purse (right, Capsella bursa-pastoris), perfect little hearts for a Valentine's Day salad

Violets are often candied and used as cake decorations

the only plant that doesn't like winter is the grape vine

More about edible wild plants:

What’s that green-easy foraging at the souk

Green season and swiss chard meatballs

Fatayer and wild spinach

Nuts in our backyard-picking pinenuts (from Cafe Liz)

Gourmet weeds-mallow and nettle