Edible flowers // Tropaeolum majus

While the weather is not exactly very spring-like at the moment (my garden is covered in snow), then I am slowly starting to prepare for springs arrival. I can’t wait to finally be able to get back to working on my garden, it will be my second year having a garden and things are slowly starting to come together. I have ordered lots of new flower seeds + pots so I can start the seeds in my windowsill and plant them in the garden, when the weather finally gets better.

I always get a lot of questions about the edible flowers I use to decorate my little foodie creations, so I thought it would be fun to do a little blogseries featuring my favorite edible flowers.

First up we have the tropaeolum majus. It is one of my absolute favorite flowers and I am of course planting again this year. It is super easy to care for, really pretty and the best part is of course that it is edible, so I can use it to decorate my cakes, smoothie bowls, fruit platters etc. – you can see examples of how I use it both above and below ♥

The cool thing about the tropaeolum majus is that you can actually eat both the flowers and leaves, so I love to use the plant for vibrant beautiful summer salads and as garnish to add a pop of color to my favorite dishes.

Make sure to check out my other plant related posts right here + my super easy DIY on how to make your own rustic clay planters right here! ♥

I usually start sprouting the seeds in little planters in my windowsill in the early spring and then I plant them in my garden as soon as the weather is warm enough (the seeds comes with thorough instructions if you want to try sprouting them). As you can see in the photos above, then you only really need a couple of plants as they grow like crazy if you give them enough soil – I planted them in my raised garden beds and they pretty much took over everything, so don’t be scared give them a good trim once in a while.

The best part is that the flower season lasts from May and right up until the first frost arrives. It is rare for flowers to be in bloom for this long, so I love that I not only have beautiful flowers in my garden all summer, but also in my dishes ♥

You can find the flowers in a whole array of colors, I have them in yellow, orange and red, but I am hoping to find more colors this year – they are also available in more dusty pastel colors, bordeaux and in a dark almost black color.

Another cool feature is that it helps keep pests away from your garden + it does not need any fertilizer (which I often forget to use) – it actually thrives without it and you might not get any flowers if you use fertilizer.

You can buy both Tropaeolum majus seeds and plants in most plant nurseries, but you can also buy the seeds online right here, here and here.