Good gardens
1 BORAGE Borago officinalis
This is a classic late spring/early summer flower, and we grow both its blue and white flowered forms. Its starry flowers are pretty, often to be seen decorating drinks in adverts for Pimm’s. They’re said to have a mildly cucumber-like taste, but I’m not convinced. Many plants in the borage family are edible, including garden anchusa (Anchusa azurea) and the flowers of that rather pernicious and invasive weed, alkanet (A. officinalis). All these are true royal-blue flowers and are perfect for adding prettiness to puddings and ice cubes.
2 CHIVES Allium schoenoprasum and A. tuberosum
We grow ordinary chives for purple flowers (A. schoenoprasum) and garlic chives (A. tuberosum) for starry white pompoms – both are favoured by butterflies and bees. The flowers taste like a mild version of the leaves: in the case of ordinary purple chives, mildly oniony, and in the case of white garlic chives, a little more reminiscent of garlic.
3 CHINESE VIOLET CRESS Orychophragmus violaceus
Not very well known, these are one of my favourite edible flowers because you can eat every part of the plant. The flowers are mauve, deepening in colour as the weather warms, and the leaves and seedheads have a mustard-like taste. We grow it inside to ensure late winter/early spring picking, and we plant it outside in March for an April and May harvest.
4 COMMON MARIGOLD Calendula officinalis
This classic cottage garden plant offers a range of yellows and oranges in early summer. When pulled apart, the flowers give you orange petal strands, which look good over a bright lettuce salad or added to pilaf and risotto. We also now grow ‘Neon’ especially for these purposes, and it has twice the number of petals of any other variety we’ve trialled.
5 CORNFLOWER Centaurea cyanus
For edible flowers, we grow a mix of colours – some a single colour and some with frosted tips to their petals, such as ‘Classic Magic’.
6 COURGETTE FLOWERS
All varieties provide plenty of flowers, but ‘Defender’ F1 and ‘Nero di Milano’ are the most prolific flower producers in my experience. Pack the plants tightly at about half their usual spacing, so at 40cm (16in) or so, as they flower more prolifically under stress.
7 NASTURTIUM Tropaeolum majus and T. minus
From now until late autumn, nasturtiums are in season. They taste the strongest of all edi
