Here’s a small sampling of the interesting, attractive and unusual flowers that you will find on display in the backyard vegetable plot:

Nasturtium flowers are edible of course and add a bite of peppery flavor in the kitchen and mounds of  colorful blooms in the garden. The leaves can also be eaten and there are some varieties with variegated foliage.

Tansy is a medicinal herb that serves double duty as a great veggie garden companion and a plant that can be useful in attracting beneficial insects and encouraging them to make themselves at home.

Black Eyed Peas have surprisingly beautiful flowers and this photo doesn’t nearly do the colors justice. You need to get an early start to catch this one because the shy blooms quickly fade and disappear as the sun rises.

Okra is one of my favorite vegetable flowers that makes for a pretty sight even before the blossom has fully opened. The tropical looking flowers quickly develop into tasty okra pods.

Fish Pepper flowers are plain and barely visible, but the leaves prove there is no pepper variety as showy as this heirloom. Even the small fruits are incredibly attractive adorned in an assortment of colors and fancy stripes.

Garland Chrysanthemum’s dainty flowers rise above deeply serrated leaves that are the main course on this edible plant. I’ve noted two different flower strains on edible chrysanthemums with this one being the least ornamental.

Arugula may not display the largest or most colorful blooms, but you have to admit that their flowers are unique and have an ornamental flair of their very own… not to mention that it’s great option to spice up a green salad.

Scorzonera produces an elegant flower and buds that would look right at home in a florist shop, but make no mistake, this is a root vegetable that is rough and tough enough to flourish like a perennial in the vegetable garden.

Goji Berry flowers are easily missed because they are so tiny but take a minute to look closely and you will be rewarded with a showy display from this exotic looking blossom that later develops into a bright red juicy berry.

Parsnip blossoms may not attract many flower gardeners, but as you can see they have no trouble drawing in a crowd of pollinating and predatory beneficial insects. Flowers appear during the plant’s second year of growth.

Rhubarb plants are best known for pies, jams, and other desserts, but they will also produce a flower of sorts. This unusual bloom rises on a stalk that is best removed to prevent it from sapping strength from the plant.

Sunflowers parade by to close out this peculiar round-up of flowers, but there’s plenty more to see in the veggie garden; borage, scarlet runner beans, broccoli, squash, globe artichokes, sage, kale, calendula, sunchokes, carrots, salsify, leeks, rosemary, and other vegetables and herbs all have flowers of their own waiting to be admired and enjoyed.

Jasmeen is finding this out the hard way as the following inquiry details…

“Hi Kenny, this is the first year I’m planting a vegetable garden. With no experience, I made a lot of mistakes. The big question I have right now is how do I identify cauliflowers and collard greens?”

“I planted kale, collards and cauliflowers in the same plot, didn’t label them thinking “oh, they’ll grow up to be different and I can separate them”. So far, the cauliflower doesn’t have its head or floret. And they all look the same. What should I look for to distinguish them?” – Jasmeen

It’s Times Like These When it Really Does Pay to Label Your Plants

There’s nothing more unnatural than a plastic plant labels protruding from the earth and many veteran gardeners take pride in their ability to identify their babies from the very first leaf, but that skill only comes through experience and close observation.

Even a master gardener will find it challenging to distinguish between different varieties of the same plant, or vegetables that they have never grown before. As humiliating and impersonal as it may seem to use labels, it’s better to play it safe than sorry when it comes to identifying your young seedlings.

Some times identity isn’t as important and you can sort things out as the plants mature and give away their true identities. But on other occasions it’s important to know exactly what plant you’re dealing with for the purposes of spacing, thinning, and planning production and harvest yields.

Nobody wants to plant a few heads of cabbage and lots of kale and collards, only to wind up with more cabbages than they could possibly eat and a supply of leafy greens that don’t amount to a much due to a case of mistaken identity!

Calling Out All the Masquerading Collard Plants

Most vegetables in the Brassica family, which include; kale, collards, Brussels Sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kohl rabi, mustard, and turnips have leaves that look very similar during their seedling stages and sometimes even beyond.

There are slight differences that are difficult to describe, but observation and experience will be your best bets for telling the plants apart. In general collard leaves tend to take on a more rounded shape and the plants develop larger leaves as the plants grow in comparison to cauliflower.

The older any plants become, the more evident the tell tale differences will become to distinguish between related crops. Studying those details is the surest way to develop an eye for identifying various plant species, varieties, and even common weeds from the earliest stages of their development.

Leaf shape is usually the biggest give away, but you can also get important clues to a plant’s identity from its size, growth habits, and those subtle variations in color. The more dirt time you spend observing your plants as they grow, the easier it will become for you to tell them apart, regardless of their maturity.

Good luck at discerning the differences between your collards and cauliflower; you’ll probably be much better at that skill this time next season. For now I hope that your family enjoys eating lots of collard greens… or should I say cauliflowers?

Karen Sherwood of Earthwalk Northwest was the guide and instructor on this seaweed and coastal foraging expedition into the low tides and reefs just off of Lopez Island in Washington State. The days were full of hiking, kayaking, foraging, and fascinating studies on the identification, collection, preparation, and preservation of a variety of sea vegetables.

Letting Your Taste Buds be Your Guide to the World of Seaweeds

The first surprise was how freely we were able to sample the sea vegetables on the beaches we visited. Karen assured us that there were “no seaweeds growing in the local waters that could harm us” and that we were free to “let your taste buds be your guides.”

Even the Desmarestia ligulata seaweed (a.k.a. acid kelp), which generally isn’t recommended for eating because it contains high levels of sulfuric acid, is indeed perfectly edible in small quantities, and is also considered by many to be one of the best tasting seaweeds.

Hmmm, it’s almost as if you could sample first and identify later, that’s a big switch from the precautions required when foraging land based wild plants. It turns out that the major safeguards in consuming the sea vegetables around Washington State’s San Juan Islands is to ensure that the waters that they are growing in are unpolluted, have a good exchange ratio, and that the area is clear of any Red Tide warnings.

Despite the reduced risk, I still feel compelled to issue the usual warnings regarding any type of foraging: know what you’re doing when consuming any wild plant, learn from an experienced guide, be aware of the surroundings where you do your collecting, and look out for signs of food sensitivities or allergic reactions!

A Friendly Introduction to the Interesting Clans of Sea Vegetables

Alaria, Desmarestia, Egregia, Fucus, Laminaria, Nereocystis, Palmeria, Porphyra, and Ulva were the official names of a few seaweeds that are more commonly known as Winged Kelp, Color Changer or Acid Kelp, Feather Boa or Boa Kelp, Bladderwrack or Stirfry Weed, Kombu, Bullwhip Kelp, Dulse, Nori or Laver, and Sea Lettuce.

I resisted using those botanical names initially, but I have to admit that the formal titles do have a pleasing melody once you get the pronunciation down, and they also inspire the feelings as though you’re on a familiar, first name basis with these mysterious and new ocean dwelling plants.

We had two options for a rendezvous with our friendly seaweeds; wandering the reefs for a couple of hours at low-tide, or taking to kayaks and paddling out to gather the booty. I’d say walking out at low tide was the more productive option as there was no need to maneuver against the winds and currents while reaching and leaning to harvest and load seaweeds into a kayak in the deep waters of a supposedly calm bay!

The reefs had a few perils of their own though, just try walking out onto sharp rocks covered with slick seaweeds and you will be stepping gingerly for sure. Wading too far out in knee deep waters could also quickly land you in an unexpected and sudden drop off. Then there was the need to maintain your awareness in spite of the excitement of filling baskets full of sea vegetables and shellfish, lest you discover that the tide had crept in behind to leave you marooned in sea lion territory!

It was an incredible sight to see the variety and quantities of seaweeds that were exposed as the tide receded. It was also interesting to note how the various species of plants hung out together, with each variety of seaweed preferring to grow at a particular depth and under varying degrees of exposure to the waves and ocean currents.

In some ways it looked like a collage of sea vegetables strewn about everywhere that you looked, but there really was a definite order to it all. The seaweeds also seemed so helpless as they lay stranded in exposed heaps or were barely suspended in a few inches of the slack tide. Who knows, maybe these aquatic plants actually enjoy the brief rest from the constant dancing and activity that the ocean currents usually force upon them.

Legally and Sustainably Harvesting Seaweeds from the Ocean

With the required State of Washington Shellfish and Seaweed Harvesting Licenses in hand, our group of about a dozen foragers went about the task of sampling and gathering our share of the sea vegetables that we would cook, dry, eat, and study over the course of the coastal foraging class.

We were instructed in ways of sustainable harvesting to ensure the continued growth and survival of all the wild plants that we were collecting. Not that we put even a small dent in the seaweed population of the shoreline that we had all to ourselves. It did seem a little odd that the members of our group were the only ones taking advantage of this perfect window of opportunity to gather seaweeds.

The Native Americans cherished, harvested, and enjoyed these precious gifts of the ocean and probably hiked the same trails and explored the same reefs that we stood on during our foraging class. I guess I shouldn’t complain, but it is a shame that sea vegetables aren’t better known for the benefits and blessings that they offer to us.

I have long appreciated and enjoyed the edible weeds and wild plants that grow on land, but now I recognize that many more of them are hidden from sight and can be found growing just beyond the coasts and shores of the U.S. and other countries.

Next time I’ll share some interesting ways for using sea vegetables, both in the kitchen and outside in the organic garden. In the meantime here’s a link if you’d like to take a look at more sea vegetable photos from the expedition to the San Juan Islands and Earthwalk Northwest’s Seaweeds and Coastal Foraging Class.

For being speedy with a correct response I’m sending Kitt of The Kittalog a packet of Kabocha Winter Squash, Sunset Flower Herb, Bunching Onions, Cambodian Giant Eggplant, and Empereur Alexandre Cucumbers. Maybe she will find these heirloom seeds a bit more intriguing and challenging than my riddle.

Earthwalk Northwest Presents a Seaweeds & Coastal Foraging Class

I have long been a fan of seaweeds and enjoy feasting upon them in the kitchen and using them as an organic fertilizer out in the garden. I took advantage of an opportunity to attend a Seaweed and Coastal Foraging class taught by Karen Sherwood of Earthwalk Northwest that was held on Washington State’s Lopez Island.

I first met Karen over twenty years ago when she introduced me to some of the land based edible weeds and wild plants that I collect and enjoy. She added a few new and useful wild plants to my tally during the trip out to the Northwest Coast:

Salmon Berries – These plants lined many of the trails that we hiked and offered a pleasing snack for hungry backpackers. The ripe berries come in two colors, red or orange and we were taught to look for the butterflies that appear when the tip of a leaf cluster is bent back as a means to identify this delicious wild fruit.

Glasswort – Also called Sea Beans or Sea Asparagus, it does resemble a miniature asparagus fern, like many plants found growing near the ocean it has a salty but pleasant flavor. We added glasswort plants that were just a few inches tall to an Island Frittata with seaweeds, and also munched on them out of hand.

Hooker’s Onion – Easily spotted from a distance by the colorful flowers which are edible and have a distinct onion flavor that makes for a convenient trailside nibble. There didn’t seem to be much to this wild plant other than the cluster of flowers at the top the stalk, but hidden underground it also produces an edible bulb that can be dug up and eaten.

Seaside Plantain – Officially known as Plantago Maritima, this colorful edible weed resembles the scrawny variety of narrow leaf plantain found in my backyard but is tastier and has a more substantial leaf growth. The thick, succulent leaves are tinged with a reddish hue and yield a pleasant, salty, flavor. This one would make a nice addition to a leafy green salad.

Ocean Spray – A shrub or small tree, it was also referred to as Ironwood and is more of a medicinal plant than an edible wild plant. Its clusters of tiny white berries can be used to brew a medicinal tea that is used to relieve specific ailments. It does have a somewhat edible purpose in that this was the wood of choice to be used for planking salmon to be cooked over an open fire in the traditional native manner.

Red Elderberries – These are different than the elderberry varieties that I grow in my back yard, so I’m not sure about the usefulness of this one and I am not identifying it as an edible plant. Red Elderberries grow wild on Lopez Island and are very ornamental plants displaying numerous clusters of bright red berries on a tall shrub growing about fifteen feet in height.

Enjoying Edible Wild Plants of the Northwest

As always, be cautious when identifying or handling any wild plant, be alert to possible allergies and food sensitivities, and never harvest from a polluted or contaminated environment, or where the plants are in short supply.

Earthwalk Northwest also offers monthly Wild Foods Dinners, Plant Apprenticeships and Ethnobotanical Studies, and several Wild Edible Plant Courses. Hopefully I’ll be able to take another trip out west to learn more from Karen and Frank about edible wild plants of the Northwest.

Well that’s enough talk about land plants, next time I’ll share some of the information I learned during the Coastal Foraging Course related to the incredible variety of wild ocean growing seaweeds and sea vegetables that I discovered and sampled during my visit to Lopez Island.

While most of the garden’s plants are nowhere close to maturity, a few edibles have already reached lofty peaks and now spend the summer days posing and flexing all over the vegetable arena.

Introducing the Big and Beautiful Ms. Angelica Herb

Angelica, the first contender weighs in at close to five feet tall and is a full-bodied four feet across at the shoulders. Don’t let the name fool you because this diva is about as tough as herb plants come. She has occupied the end of one raised bed for the past three years and shows absolutely no inclination of allowing anyone else to muscle in on her territory.

Ms. Angelica is accustomed to having her way around the garden and is usually off and growing before her competitors even realize that spring has arrived. A fast riser, everyone in the garden was forced to bow before her during March and April. Despite her size and strength angelica is a real cutie with that reddish blush, the sexy, exotic-looking leaves, and who can avoid staring at those huge seed pods that she puts out there for all to see!

Yes, Angelica has a much publicized history and reputation; as a medicinal herb that is, but she also has a sweet and delicate side that’s right at home in the kitchen and is used as a flavoring. I admit that I’m mainly attracted to her physical characteristics and I couldn’t care less about Angelica’s edible or medicinal qualities. She earns a spot in my garden based solely on her good looks.

The Last Hurrahs of Parsnips Gone to Seed

In the next corner is a tag team of Parsnip plants rising an intimidating seven feet in the air. These are lean, mean, seed making machines that are flashing their flower clusters for all of the pollinating insects to see and admire. In only their second consecutive season in the garden this root crop is making quite an impression.

Parsnips are a biennial plant so these bad boys won’t have a chance to defend any titles won, but instead will pass their crowns on to the upstart juvenile parsnip plants that are currently in their first year of training. A quick glance at the youngsters and you’d never believe that their destiny is to one day tower over the garden.

They draw their strength from the tasty roots, which are sweet flavored even if they aren’t the most popular root crop in the garden. Compared to carrots but it’s obvious that the much larger parsnips are the body builders of the group. I like to leave a couple of the plants to go to flower for the seeds and to attract their followings of beneficial insects.

Lovage Reigns as Summer Arrives in the Veggie Garden

The final challenger is a formidable one, the incredible perennial Lovage herb plant. She established herself and maintained her place in the garden for a number of years, but has never grown as enormous as she has this season. More than a few eyebrows and questions are being raised in private over the drastic change in her physique since last year.

It looks like there’s really no competition, I’m guessing that the lovage plant is a good eight feet tall and still growing! And she’s pretty cocky with the way that she is throwing her weight around the raised bed and out into the garden’s pathways. I sense a foul and a pruning penalty being assessed against this big bully in the very near future.

Just like its personality in the garden, Lovage has a very distinct and strong flavor that can be overpowering if you let those edible leaves run wild in your recipes. Lovage finds its way into salads, smoothies, and as a seasoning for cooked dishes as long as you don’t over do it and remember that a little of this big herb goes a long way!

Taking on all Comers from Gardens Far and Wide

That’s a quick rundown of the heavyweights in the garden this spring. It is amazing how tall these plants have grown, but stay tuned because it’s still early and new challenges are expected to be thrown down by my heirloom tomatoes, the mighty cardoon plants, those climbing runner beans, or maybe even from a giant okra plant or two!

In the meantime, I’m calling out all the big, bad, vegetables and herbs from other gardens no matter where they are. If you have a titan growing in your own garden that you’d like to pit against one of my champions just send in a photo or issue your challenge and the plant’s vital statistics in the comment section.

That’s because you can’t venture too far without noticing waves of the plant sporting the small white flowers that rise above the heart shaped crinkled leaves. I’m not a big fan of garlic mustard as an edible dish, but it is another good plant to become acquainted with and to file away as an emergency food source.

Garlic Mustard the Gardener’s Friend or a Dreaded Foe

I wouldn’t recommend that you welcome the growth of this wild edible because it is extremely invasive, has a nasty habit of spreading, and can out compete and replace native species in the landscape. It’s not too difficult to control by hand weeding when the plant is young, but the problem is that it spreads quickly and usually grows in large colonies.

Garlic Mustard has migrated from a slightly wooded area of my backyard and has now moved into a corner of one of the raised vegetable beds. I’ll be removing it from the garden soon, and will also do more to discourage and control its growth in all parts of the backyard. After it matures, garlic mustard produces many seeds that will scatter and can remain viable for years before finally germinating.

Take a walk out to a forest or field and you’ll often find garlic mustard growing along the fringes and in the transition areas. It’s not difficult to identify this plant with its unique leaf shape, wrinkled texture, and small clusters of white flowers on plants that tend to grow in large groups. Once established it can quickly take over and doesn’t like to share its territory with other plants.

If You Can’t Beat it What about the Opportunity to Eat it

On a brighter note garlic mustard is a versatile edible plant, and that may be the reason it was introduced into this country in the first place. Crush the leaves and you will detect a faint scent of fresh garlic that it takes its name from. And this is a hardy edible weed that doesn’t fade away during the winter months when green vegetation is in short supply.

Garlic Mustard leaves are eaten raw in salads or they can be cooked and mixed with other wild or cultivated leafy greens. The roots are edible with a spicy flavor like horseradish and the seeds can even be collected for use as a spice. Garlic Mustard also has some past history as a medicinal plant.

Always take precautions when handling any wild edible:

• Secure a positive identification – a picture may be “worth a thousand words” but it has limited value when it comes to identifying wild plants. You’re always better off to seek guidance from someone with experience before foraging wild plants or edible weeds.
• Know your location and sources – you must always avoid harvesting plants from areas that have been sprayed with chemicals or exposed to pollutants. In other instances you should avoid removing plants from areas where they are in short supply or if they have not had a chance to multiply.
• Beware of food sensitivities – just because a wild plant is known to be edible does not guarantee that you won’t be allergic or have a food sensitivity to it, so go easy and act accordingly anytime that you choose to sample a new or unfamiliar wild food source.

A look around the back yard revealed quite a few edible plants that are bolting and flowering, but for the most part it’s not a problem if it occurs at the proper time and shouldn’t be taken as a sigh of something gone wrong.

Here’s just a sampling of all the vegetable seed factories currently in production out in the garden:

Kale – This one is at the top of my list and I frequently refer to it as mock broccoli. It’s not only attractive with the reddish tinged florets of this “wild kale mix” variety, but it’s also edible and delicious whether you enjoy them cooked or raw.

Arugula – Not mush to feast on here but I do like the odd looking flowers and tiny pods that adorn the the seed stalks. My plan is to let a few of these plants fully mature to produce a crop of seed for growing arugula sprouts in the kitchen, and additional arugula plants in the garden.

Garden Cress – Clusters of tiny yellow flowers rise from the peppery flavored, dark green leaves of the cress plants that were planted last fall and are now reaching the final days of their life in the garden.

Horseradish – A little plain Jane, except for the serrated leaf shapes, but at least the stalks give away the location of the spicy roots that are waiting to be dug and turned into the best homemade horseradish sauce you ever tasted.

Chives – These buds are just developing and don’t give much of a clue of the showy display that is to come as the buds open into round, spiky, colorful blossoms. And don;t forget that chive flowers are edible and impart the same familiar chive flavor to your favorite dishes.

Alliums – This row of ornamental alliums is situated between rows of asparagus plants. Once the allium flowers open up they will stand tall and provide a low maintenance accent in the perennial vegetable bed.

Dandelion – This may be the most common and dreaded edible plant of them all. I’ve expressed my affection for dandelions in the past and there must be a reason that they are so plentiful. Look closely and you have to admit that both the dandelion flowers and the seed puffs are pretty amazing!

Rhubarb – A peculiar seed stalk for sure, rhubarb stalks should be removed from the plant as soon as they appear, but I couldn’t resist letting this one grow for a spell just so that I could take a look at it.

I was happy to comply with the request and considering all of the delicious garden produce at my disposal, it was an easy task to whip up a salad that was so colorful and attractive that some guests were actually hesitant to dig in and ruin this edible arrangement!

Turning an Ordinary Salad into a Popular Cookout Dish?

You’d be surprised how appearances and presentation will draw a crowd to a simple and healthy dish, even when it’s surrounded by tempting high calorie and fat laden picnic foods. Folks that would normally turn their noses up to a tossed salad at a cookout were making room for this attractive side dish.

This salad creation is being submitted as part of the Weekend Herb Blogging Group for September 9, 2007. I’ve contributed articles in the past featuring a fall garden production, heirloom eggplants, and even a sleazy piece on corn smut, but this is my first stab at anything that comes close to qualifying as an actual recipe. After all, I’m just a gardener with no aspirations of turning into a gourmet chef.

The foundation for this salad was a mix of organic lettuces and mesclun that unfortunately wasn’t harvested from the garden but was instead obtained from the local grocer. I also purchased a bag of baby spinach for this salad. All of the other ingredients were freshly picked from the beds of my organic heirloom garden.

Creating an Enticing and Ornamental Tossed Salad

Half of the greens were spread over the bottom of a large aluminum roasting pan and pressed down to compress them just a bit. Crisp cucumbers were partially peeled and then sliced to spread atop the fresh baby lettuces and other salad greens.

A generous sprinkling of a dried Italian herbs onto the cucumbers will add a touch of contrast as well as offer an enticing aroma that will continue to linger long after the salad has been served. Fresh herbs such as lovage, sage, thyme, rosemary, and borage can also be added in moderation for their intriguing scents and flavors that will leave everyone guessing about the identity of your secret ingredients.

A colorful combination of carrot sticks and strips of red, yellow, and orange heirloom peppers were scattered over the cucumbers and followed up with a medley of yellow Sungold, pale Blondkopfchen, and ordinary red cherry tomatoes. I prefer to use cherry tomato varieties in tossed salads for the convenience and because they will keep the entire affair much crisper and soggy-free.

The Perfect Garnish for a Beautiful Salad

Next I repeated the entire process with another layer of lettuces and greens topped by more cucumbers, dried or fresh herbs, carrots, colorful heirloom peppers, and an assortment of cherry tomatoes.

To finish off and crown my organic garden salad creation, I topped it off with a garnish of edible flowers. In this case I used nasturtiums, which are blooming all over the garden in a range of bright colors. The nasturtiums enhance the salads appearance and bring a mild flavor to the table.

While I was collecting the edible nasturtium flowers from the garden I also noticed a few garlic chive herb plants that just happened to be showing off their own clusters of white blossoms. These stronger tasting flowers are also edible with a distinctly garlic-like flavor. They found their way onto the top of the salad placed inside a few sliced bell pepper rings.

There are all sorts of edible flowers that will make a perfect addition to dress up a tossed garden salad. Other candidates include; spicy purple chive blooms, tiny blue borage flowers, crunchy snap bean blossoms, and many other edible vegetable and herb flowers that are available for the picking.

Serving up a Tasty Work of Art from the Garden

No oils or dressings were used in preparing this salad, a basic balsamic vinaigrette was offered on the side but you’d be surprised by the number of people who enjoyed this salad without any added oil or salad dressing. The salad can be lightly tossed to mix the ingredients before serving if desired.

That’s it for a quick and easy garden salad that can function as a table centerpiece, in addition to a delicious and healthful side dish at your next outing or family gathering.

Despite the frequent comments that were overheard of… “Ohhh, that salad is just too pretty to eat”… by the end of the day it was obvious that my family enjoyed doing more than just look at this colorful salad that was constructed fresh from my organic, heirloom garden!