Learn how to turn the beautiful roses in your garden into a tasty and gorgeous rose petal jelly! It’s made with reduced sugar pectin, fresh rose petals, sugar, lemon juice, and water. That’s all you need to make this pretty floral treat. Rose petal jelly tastes very good too – somewhat like a mild grape-like…
Learn how to identify and forage Creeping Charlie, an edible spring weed, plus instructions to turn it into a tincture! Creeping Charlie (Glechoma hederacea) – also known by the common names “gill-over-the-ground”, “ale-hoof”, “run-away-robin” and “ground ivy” – is a fast-growing, perennial weed that grows low to the ground. Many gardeners find it the bane…
Snapdragons are a much-loved garden classic to grow! Both dwarf and tall versions of these colorful flowers make a beautiful, long-lasting floral show throughout the growing season, and are a favorite for cut flower displays. Boasting a wide range of colors to choose from, snapdragons come in both single-color and bicolored flower varieties. The blooms…
Learn how to grow sweet violets or common violets from seed! Violets are a delightful addition to your woodland garden or tucked into shady areas or pots around your house. The pretty purple flowers are used to make tasty jellies, syrup, and vinegars, and the leaves can be used to makes soothing salves or lip…
Learn how to identify and forage for wild violets, plus how to harvest, preserve, and use them. Often considered a backyard weed, violets provide value to native butterflies, bees, and wildlife, and they offer food and herbal benefits for humans too! Foraging wild violets is an easy and fun springtime activity! Here’s how to make…
Turn edible peach flowers into this pretty springtime lemonade! It’s an ultra easy recipe that creates a single serving of naturally pink homemade lemonade. While ripe peaches are best known for being delicious fruits of summer, the peach tree itself can also be utilized year ’round. In Appalachian herbalism, peach leaves, flowers, and twigs are…
Spotted bee balm (Monarda punctata) is a stellar pollinator plant in the mint family which attracts all kinds of native bees and butterflies to your garden. As a bonus, the plant has use as an edible herbal too! At a Glance: How to Grow Like other bee balms, spotted bee balm is super easy to…
Learn how to turn black pansy flowers into a beautiful jelly. The flavor is light and mildly grape-like! (You can also use this same recipe with any other kind and color of pansy flowers!) Black pansy flowers are just like other pansies, only they’re a very dark purple – so dark that they can appear…
Learn how to use honeysuckle flowers to make tea, tincture, salve, jelly, and more! Benefits of Honeysuckle Japanese honeysuckle has been well studied for its ability to help the body clear viruses. It’s cooling, making it useful for hot, inflamed, and swollen conditions like sore throat and colds/flu. In Chinese medicine, the unopened flower buds…
Learn how to identify Japanese honeysuckle, an edible flower that can be used for tea, tincture, jelly, and more! Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) is a non-native species of honeysuckle that you’ll often find growing in the wild. The trumpet shaped edible flowers not only smell amazing, they have food and herbal medicine uses too! Because…
Learn how to make and can honeysuckle jelly. It tastes like the scent of honeysuckle, combined with a light floral sweetness! Picking & Preparation Before you can make jelly, first you’ll need to head out and pick flowers for this recipe! Picking Honeysuckle Flowers For this recipe, you need 2 1/2 cups of honeysuckle blossoms,…
Tasty and nutritious, black locust flowers are only in bloom for about two weeks each spring. Here’s how to identify and harvest them, plus ideas for using! Black locust trees (Robinia pseudoacacia), also called false acacia, are native to southeastern United States, but have spread throughout North America and the rest of the world. You’ll…