Flower Power: Fancy Free Food
Up-level your cooking and food presentation with flower power.
These fancy free foods are probably growing in your garden, or even as a weed!
This visual guide will help you recognise what’s edible and what’s not.
Edible Flower Safety
As with any foraged food, if you’re not 100% sure about identifying a plant as edible, then don’t eat it.
Other things to be mindful about are the potential for flowers to have been in contact with herbicides such as Roundup, particularly on roadsides, and from any pollutants that may already be in the soil.
It’s a good idea when trying any new food to only consume a small amount in case you are part of a minority who develop an allergy to a particular food item. For example, the milk thistle contains a natural latex.
Common Garden Flowers
Nasturtium

Snap Dragon Flowers

Rose Petals

Carnation Petals

Calendula Petals

Marigold Petals

Pansy, Viola, Johnny Jump Up & Native Violets




Vegetable Flowers
Pumpkin

Zucchini & Squash

Broccoli & Cauliflower Flowers

Radish

Peas (Not Ornamental)

Beans

Herb Flowers
Sage

Basil

Rosemary

Thyme

Mint

Oregano

Dill

Chives

Garlic

Lavender

Weed Flowers
Clover

Dandelion

Mallow

What’s your favourite edible flower? Please scroll down to leave a comment.