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Do you grow edible ornamentals?

7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago

Since I don't have enough sun to grow "regular" vegetables, I've taken to growing edible ornamentals. I did grow sorrel (Hibiscus sabdariffa), but needed too much to get enough sepals, so I switched up to cranberry hibiscus, which has edible leaves, buds and flowers that makes great teas. Some other edible ornamentals I grow are:

  • Chaya - edible leaves and the bees and butterflies LOVE the flowers. It grow fast and large. Mine didn't bloom last year, but I'm hoping that once I take the bananas out, it will get more sun and bloom this year..
  • Eddoe (a variety of Colocasia esculenta) - A lovely elephant ear plant with small edible roots. I got some purple-stemmed types this year with larger bulbs I'm looking forward to growing.
  • Xanthasoma - an elephant ear whose young unfurled leaves are used to make callaloo, a Jamaican dish.
  • Pigeon pea - a small tree with beautiful flowers that bees love, that produces pounds and pounds of peas every year. You can eat them green or let them dry on the tree, but the green ones are hard to shell, so I just buy them in cans at the store.
  • Talinum - A pretty plant with small, pink flowers and edible leaves. It spreads like mad all over my yard, so every year, I transplant a few to eat and pluck out the seedlings to put into salads.
  • Sweet potato - I planted sweet potatoes years ago, and found out I cannot get the potatoes out, because of tree roots, so I just eat the leaves and use it as a lovely ground cover
  • Jerusalem artichoke - Just started growing these and can't wait to see how they do this year. Only had a few bulbs last year, so I'm just letting them multiply this year. Beautiful yellow flowers in the fall.
  • Canna indica - tall, purple leaf canna that has very fat roots that supposedly can be eaten like potatoes, or sliced and fried, but I haven't tried them yet. I hear all canna roots can be eaten, but some taste better than others. My yellow cannas have small, running roots that don't look like they'd be good to eat.
  • Malabar spinach - got some seeds from a friend, so I'll grow it this year. I've grown it before, and it's very delicious, plus the vines are pretty, especially the red when it gets the berries on it.
  • Daylily - I only have a few, so I don't eat much of them, but every part is edible. The buds are delicious in salads, as are the leaves. The roots taste a bit like water chestnut.
  • Lemon grass - I love the way it rustles in the breeze, it makes a great tea, and the bottom part of the stems can be used in stir-fries (especially Thai food).
  • Tiny hot peppers - got a bunch of seeds from friends that I'm going to be trying this year to see how they do. I don't eat a lot of hot peppers due to reflux, so I give the peppers away.
  • Elderberry - I grow this mostly for the bees, butterflies and birds, but I also love elderberry tea, and if I get enough berries, I'll make a little syrup, which is great on pancakes.

I hope I didn't forget anything.

Comments (10)

  • 7 years ago

    The only one of those we grow are cranberry hibiscus. Don't eat them, though. Used to grow sorrel and would again if someone sent some seeds.

  • 7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    Xanthasoma - an elephant ear whose young unfurled leaves are used to make callaloo, a Jamaican dish.

    Are you sure about that? Callaloo that I've had is made with amaranth and that's what the Jamaicans call the plant, too. There are red and green varieties. Silvia, isn't the one you grew and couldn't find enough people who knew what to do with it a kind of amaranth? ETA Maybe trinidadian callaloo is made with the elephant ear leaves?

    They say that elderberry is as a good as tamiflu.

    For people not familiar with chaya, it needs to boiled to get rid of cyanins before you eat it, but for sure nothing else has as much butterfly/bee appeal.

  • 7 years ago

    That is so funny Writersblock and you are right callaloo in Jamaica is made from amaranth leaves as far as I know.

    You have a good memory! that was a few years ago....:)


  • 7 years ago

    writersblock and whgille, I have a very close Jamaican friend, and she says that you can make callaloo with any greens. There is an Amaranth they call Callaloo, and it's unlike a lot of others, with very large leaves, but the soup is often made with young, unfurled leaves of xanthasoma and colocasia esculenta. I've eaten it made from both. It tastes pretty much the same.

  • 7 years ago

    This is a good article, however the food is an acquired taste.

    https://healthiersteps.com/recipe/jamaican-callaloo/

  • 7 years ago

    1) Mexican tarragon has very pretty marigold like flowers late in the season

    2) Longevity spinach, super prolific and thrives in dappled shade and unamended soil. I grow it as a filler and ground cover.

    4) pineapple sage, pretty red flowers growing in part sun

    5) callisia repens I've heard is edible but I can't find much information on that edibility. I have it growing as a ground cover in dappled shade with irrigation

    6) young shoots of sweet potato vines are palatable

    7) some varieties of eggplant can have very pretty flowers

    8) dinosaur kale is ornamental looking

    9) Japanese red mustard greens look beautiful


  • 7 years ago

    Joe, I wish I had known callisia repens was edible when I lived at my house. It took over my yard after I thought it would make a "cute" ground cover. That stuff is uber-invasive! I have the variegated Callisia fragrans, and the native Callisia cordifolia (Florida roseling), Tradescantia fluminensis (green wandering jew), none of which are doing what I wanted them to, but I think they're in bad places.

  • 7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    Well any plant used as a ground cover has to be very vigorous in order to do the job. I don't see it listed as invasive/ environmentally problematic in Florida anywhere online though. It's listed as naturalized, but non-problematic. Callisia fragrans is also listed as naturalized but non-problematic. It's edible as well.

  • 7 years ago

    From what I've read, tortoises and lizards like to eat these things. I'll leave them to it.

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