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Edible ornamental plants

Ryan M Miller

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posted 3 years ago

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I am starting this thread for anyone to share information about common ornamental plants found North American suburban yards that are also excellent edible plants. So far, I am aware of the following:

Japanese crabapples (Malus florbunda): Dome cultivars of this species can have fruits that are an inch and diameter with a pleasant subacid flavor. They tend to ripen in early Fall here in Ohio and the fruits are tasty when either eaten straight off the tree or made into sweet cider.

Hostas (Hosta sp.): The young shoots of this plant can be cut and eaten like asparagus in early spring. The plants seem to be so tasty that deer can't seem to get enough of the plant in some neighborhoods.

Daylillies (Hemerocalis sp.): According to the PFAF article on this plant, just about every part seems to be edible. The flower buds, tubers, and young shoots all seem to be edible cooked.

Yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria): I was surprised to learn that this plant is often grown in parts of the southern United States as an ornamental hedge. The leaves of this plant can be dried and made into a caffeine rich tea that can be used as an aromatic sunstitute for coffee.

Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana): Now listed as invasive in Ohio, this plant is often widely planted for its ornamental but foul smelling flowers. The small fruits can be made into a jam or beverage after a hard frost affects the fruits.

If anyone is aware of any other common ornamental plants found in North American backyards, feel free to post to this thread.

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Heather Staas

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posted 3 years ago

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And edibles that can be ornamental! Sprouting broccoli is a star in garden right now. The cloud of flowering cilantro behind it is amazing too :)

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Antigone Gordon

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posted 3 years ago

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* 'Edible ornamentals' can be a handy list if you live where vegetables aren't appreciated in front yards

Ryan M Miller

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I think I also forgot to mention evening primrose (Oenothera biennis). This plant produces showy flowers, but the plant root can also be eaten in the first year of this plant's life cycle.

greg mosser

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posted 3 years ago

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good call. that reminds me that there are a few perennials planted for their flowers that have edible roots. balloon flower (Platycodon grandiflorus) is one. pretty sure i remember some chatter a bit ago here about eating the roots of some species of Campanula too.

Lisa Stauber

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posted 3 years ago

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My entire garden is currently edible. I'm in Zona 9a

Bedding flowers:
Zinnias, marigold, purslane (portaluca), snap dragon, nasturtium, amaranth, closing, gomphrena, violets, pansy, salvia (which is a sage)

Shrubs: mulberry, pineapple guava (good substitute for boxwood/privet), roses, camellia (this is where tea comes from!), fig, orange (can be shaped to a shrub, has lovely glossy leaves), sage

Groundcover/creeping vines:
Purslane, sweet potato (eat the leaves, harvest the roots in the fall), Malabar spinach, mustards, everlasting spinach (is actually a short chard), thyme (wooly or creeping), oregano, clover

Anne Miller

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posted 3 years ago

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Here are some edible ornament plants that are very attractive:

Cabbage, sweet potatoes, swiss chard, and garlic chives.

This is an example of how they can be introduced into your yard:

From this thread:

https://permies.com/t/143914/Edible-Yard-Visited

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

Ryan M Miller

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Another edible ornamental that I discovered last year is fountain grass (Pennisetum alopecuroides). This heavily-seeding perennial ornamental grass has medium sized seeds that stay on the plant long after ripening and are easy to thresh free of the husks. Surprisingly, PFAF gives this plant only one apple score on edibility (https://pfaf.org/user/plant.aspx?latinname=Pennisetum+alopecuroides). I have not yet harvested enough seeds to test to see whether or not they taste good mixed in with my breakfast oatmeal, but I plan on testing them once I have enough seeds.

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Mk Neal

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The fiddleheads from ostrich ferns are a good early spring vegetable. I have heard milkweed shoots and the young pods are edible.

Weeds are just plants with enough surplus will to live to withstand normal levels of gardening!--Alexandra Petri

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Ryan M Miller

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Mk Neal wrote:The fiddleheads from ostrich ferns are a good early spring vegetable. I have heard milkweed shoots and the young pods are edible.

I was surprised to learn that many nurseries sell ostrich fern as an ornamental shade plant earlier this year. People pay a lot of money for fresh Spring fiddleheads. I guess it will be a lot easier to establish fiddleheads into a food forest than I thought.

Ryan M Miller

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Heather Staas wrote:
And edibles that can be ornamental! Sprouting broccoli is a star in garden right now. The cloud of flowering cilantro behind it is amazing too

I can't believe I forgot to mention ornamental kale (Brassica oleracea). These cultivars are usually just grown for show, but the leaves should be perfectly edible when cooked as a green vegetable.

I spent some time recently shopping for seeds on the MIgardener website and it appears that there are cultivars of Chrysnthemum sp. that can be used as an annual green vegetable. The flowers also attract pollinators late in the season when other plants are done blooming. The cultivar sold on his website was called "Shungiku" (Chrysanthemum coronarium), but I may do some further reading to see if there are other chrysanthemum cultivars available with highly palatable leaves.

Ryan M Miller

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posted 2 years ago

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It's been a long time since my last post, but I've been reading about lupines lately, especially Lupinus perennis and Lupinus mutabilis, and it appears that lupines are often grown as an ornamental plant. Although some lupine seeds require heavy processing to remove cyanide and antinutrients from the seeds, they make a great insurance crop during years when common beans get severely damaged from bean beetle attacks.

Nancy Reading

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Lupin is definitely an ornamental plant! The normal ornamental ones are the bicoloured Russel lupins. I've got some blue Lupin - not sure the variety (they were supposed to be tree lupin - never buy dodgy seeds off ebay!) However they are beautiful in flower.
I have divided this one to increase my plants as they are also pretty good nitrogen fixers. I expect the seed would need lots of treatment to make it edible, but I'm quite happy with it's other uses at the moment!

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