Flowers

By Ed Rooney

Flowers can be an integral part of cooking. While most of us are aware that violets can be candied and nasturtiums can be eaten in salads, there’s a bounty of flower varieties that are both edible and delicious.

Satisfying Your Sweet Tooth with Flowers

Violets are not the only flower that can be candied. Many spring flowers with small, delicate blossoms have a sweet, somewhat spicy flavor that is enhanced by dipping them in sugar. It goes without saying that any flowers that you gather for eating should have been grown without the use of pesticide – by growing them yourself, you can be sure that they’re untreated. A Candy Flower Garden that blooms throughout the summer can include:

Violets – Purple, blue or white, violets are among the first flowers to bloom in the spring. They spread easily, and grow happily when transplanted into a garden bed – and you do want to confine them to a bed unless you love the look of a full carpet of blooms spreading across your lawn.

Pansies – A relative of violets, pansies are just as delicately flavored and can be used as a substitute in recipes that call for violets. They make beautiful border flowers to boot.

Angelica – These delicate, lacy white flowers can be sprinkled in salads – but the stems and shoots make a delicious traditional candy that tastes a bit like licorice with a hint of mint.

Roses – Candied rose petals and rose syrup were mainstays in Victorian cooking. Sweet delicately flavored rose syrup gives baklava its characteristic flavor, and is a perfect foil for cardamom in Indian recipes.

To candy flowers from your garden:

Violets and pansies can be candied whole. Roses should be separated into petals. Most recipes for candied flowers call for the use of raw egg whites. Using a confectioner’s powdered egg white instead reduces risk of salmonella.

Mix powdered egg white according to package directions (equivalent of one egg white). Spread a cup of superfine sugar in a flat bottomed pan. Carefully dip each flower into the egg white, then press into the sugar. Use a fork to gently turn the flower so that all surfaces of the petals are covered. Lift out of sugar and lay on a screen or drying rack till completely dry. Apple and cherry blossoms can also be candied the same way.

A Soup, Salad and Savory Flower Garden

Early summer squash blossoms may be dipped in egg and flour, then fried in olive oil with garlic. The blossoms have a sweet, nutty flavor that is like nothing else. Other garden flowers that are delicious in soups and salads include:

Borage – Like the leaves, borage flowers are delicious in salads and cold soups. They have a cool, cucumber-like taste that translates well from flower garden to kitchen table.

Carnations – The flavor is as spicy as the scent. Carefully separate the petals from the bitter white of the flower’s base and sprinkle in salads for a surprising touch of color and spice.

Daylilies – Like squash blossoms, day lilies have a mildly sweet, nutty flavor that many people think varies by color. Dredged in flour and dipped in egg, fried daylilies are quite succulent and unique in flavor.

These are just a small sampling of the many edible flowers from your garden. Be careful in your taste-testing. If you are not sure if a flower is edible, do not eat it.

Ed Rooney is the creator of http://www.garden-helper.com - an online gardening resource for gardeners to learn, share, plan, and shop.

Article Source: Ezinearticles.com

Small Flower Garden planning in a urban environment involves planning in a scarce environment. That is why it's important to know what to look for in that nook, niche, or corner. When creating that secret flower garden there are a few things to keep in mind.

First thing to consider in creating a flower garden is the choice of earth on which to begin your task. The Flower garden will have to be simply a suitable plot with suitable conditional. When you don't have much room at all the basic choice becomes no presence of earths bounty or a neatly organized small plot on which to produce the flowers and food you desire.

What kind of spot are you looking for for your flower garden? In the higher order of wants and needs, sun needs to be your deciding factor of spots. You don't want to maintain a north plot, unless it were absolutely forced to you. Why? Because of too much sun light. Now a northern exposure might be okay for certain strong strains of flowers in your flower garden or perhaps ferns, they are really not much use as spots for a domestic flower garden.

Now, the right conditions would be a plot with southern exposure, if you can get it. Here the sun lies cozy all day. Once you've identified the plot and begin to plan out how it will be planted, your rows of vegetables and flowers should run north and south. Planting your flower garden this way will allow your plants to bask in the loving warmth of the sun all morning on the eastern part and all the afternoon on the western side. Enjoy your new flower garden!

Kenneth Elliott is the owner of Flower Garden, Japanese Garden and Designer Handbags websites. Discover your gardening skills today.

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Have you started a flower garden but aren’t impressed with the results? Perhaps the flowers are wilting or you don’t like the way the flowers are positioned. Following are some flower gardening tips to help you achieve the flower garden you envisioned:

Water in Moderation. Determining how often to water your garden can be frustrating. Some decide to water their garden several times a day which can drown the plants, or create mold around the plants. It is best to lightly water your flowers every other day. Use a watering can or an attachment on a hose that simulates a light rain effect. No need to water your flowers on rainy days.

Give Your Flowers Room to Grow. Do not plant flowers too close together. Avoid the impulse to purchase a plethora of flowers then plant them closely together. This will create flowers that become hybrids of each other. Make sure the flowers you plant in your garden have enough room to grow to their full potential without growing into or overtaking other flowers around it. Consult your local garden center for thoughts about flowers that will work best together.

Get the Right Soil. It’s not necessarily sufficient to plant flowers in the soil contained in your yard. Some soil doesn’t contain the nutrients flowers need to bloom healthily. Prior to planting your flowers, purchase some nutrient-rich soil and mix it with regular soil. Also, purchase flower nutrients and place it in some water to feed the flowers with.

Use these gardening tips to achieve a stunning flower garden.

Hilary Basile is a writer for MyGuidesUSA.com. At http://www.MyGuidesUSA.com (http://www.myguidesusa.com), you will find valuable tips and resources for handling life’s major events. Whether you’re planning a wedding, buying your first home, anxiously awaiting the birth of a child, contending with a divorce, searching for a new job, or planning for your retirement, you’ll find answers to your questions at MyGuidesUSA.com Find lawn and garden tips and resources at http://www.myguidesusa.com/lawnandgarden/

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One such specialized type of garden is one that is devoted to the cultivation of flowers. Flower gardens are popular due to their aesthetic appeal. Located on large tracts of land they make commercial sense, as flowers have a worldwide market. Size is not a restricting factor for the beauty of a flower garden. Creativity and a love for plants and flowers can transform a small plot into a rare treat for the eyes. Human creativity in this field can be seen in the form of a rock garden, a bonsai garden, a tropical garden, a Chinese garden, a Zen garden, a cottage garden, a Japanese garden or a water garden. Whatever their type, these gardens add a lot of beauty to their surroundings.

Large flower gardens are huge crowd pullers. Tourists from far off places throng to see nature’s bounty nurtured. As increased tourist activity brings in good revenues state administrations take a lot of care in maintaining their gardens. Planned events like flower shows bring out the best gardening talents in the neighborhood and encourage people to take up gardening.

Maintaining a garden that celebrates all the colors of nature does need some expertise. From planting the seeds that bring forth flowering plants to all that goes into maintaining them, each step has been studied extensively in several universities. A lot of information is available for anyone who is interested on all gardening topics such as seeds, organic manure and pesticides, the right kind of soil and advice as to the suitability of a particular place for particular plants, and so forth. There is, however, no replacement for wisdom that an experienced gardener can offer. It would be wise to approach an avid gardener for tips that no manual or book on gardening would have.

Gardens provides detailed information on Gardens, Flower Gardens, Garden Décor, Garden Furniture and more. Gardens is affiliated with Flower Gardening.

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Flowers are great landscaping elements that can quickly make your landscaping garden rich with colors and excitement. Another added advantage of a flowering garden is that they attract birds and butterflies to pump extra life into your garden.

While thinking about landscaping a flower garden you have many choices at your hand. I have tried to categorize the flowering garden into various categories. Let's have a look at them one by one.

1) The type of flower garden

Which is the best form of planting you would like to see in your garden. Here are some of the alternatives.

Flowerbed - This is the most common and popular form of using flowers in a garden. Simply because a flowerbed can be used as an border element in a garden. if you have a flowerbed you save the cost of constructing a fence

Container flowering - As the name suggests this method uses small sizes flowering plants that are easy to maintain ad can be used indoor as well. Another use of container is that they can be hanged in a window or a balcony.

Ground covers - A flowering plant that covers and spreads horizontally is one of the most beautiful types of flower gardening. This can be used on a hillside landscaping site with great results.

2) The type species according to the color of flowers

The primary reason you want a flower garden is the colorful display they present after completion. Here are some alternatives.

Single color - You can go for a single type of species all over your garden with single colored flowers

Multicolor - With multicolor flower you have two options. Planting different species with different colors or variations of a single plant with different colored flowers

Shaded - Some flowers have a combinations of shades in their petals. This is another way to go about variety in your garden.

* Scented - This is a great advantage in a flowering garden. Some flowers have excellent scent that can energize the surrounding atmosphere just by their presence.

These are just a few categories to look for while choosing plants for landscaping a flower garden. I am sure you will come up with more great ideas for your flower garden.

Copyright Shrinivas Vaidya

Want more free tips on landscaping flower garden? Visit my website http://www.LandscapingDatabase.com to get great free tips to create a stunning landscaping garden of your wildest dreams.

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