Useful Flowers

[vfem]

Guess I should dish out my favorites, though I'm not sure how they'll do for you where you are. But it doesn't hurt to fantasize!

I do love the cone flowers, I have a few colors, and a few different sizes and they take no work at all since they keep reseeding themselves and they get bigger and fuller every year. One of my most loved are the saffron crocus, not the prettiest crocus but its saffron and its yummy, and I get it in the late fall when they bloom and most everything else has faded. Then there are the chives, which the flowers are edible & pretty as well as the greens. Gotta love basil and Chamomile too.

I find that I also like the look as well as the taste of Fennel & Dill. Very similar in appearance and where they are planted looks like a wildflower feed more then a bed in my garden.

 

[momofdrew]

My favorites are Oregano, thyme, lavender, feverfew, chamomile, calendula...yarrow, violets, pansys, nestursium, mint, lemon balm,

 

[lesa]

What??? No one has mentioned borage?? It is lovely, the bees adore it and it tastes delicious and it looks darling as a cake decoration.

 

[wifezilla]

Nasturtium - edible and pretty
Oregano - tasty and bees love the flowers
Thyme - ditto
Japanese Spirea - Flowering shrub that attracts bees like mad and the ducks wont eat it so there is actually foliage in their pen
Dandelions - edible. If you don't like the taste, feed it to your critters.
Day Lily - grows in even the most horrible spots. Drought tolerant. Edible roots.
Violas - edible and very pretty

 

[NwMtGardener]

How could i have forgotten violets and dill? Favorites for sure

And i really dont know what borage is...off to the internet to learn something new!

 

[Neko-Chan]

Well I would like to know more about your climate and where you are? Maybe would could pin down some good one's for you that will do well where you are.

You say limited space, do you mean very little space in a yard or you need these to do well in pots? Preferences on perennial or annual plants?

My Location: Tasmania, Australia (Southern hemisphere, clearly. )
My Climate: Marine Temperate
My Zone: 8 (The average annual minimum temperature is -12 to 17C, or 10 to 20F)

The longest day of the year is 15 hours light, 9 hours dark; shortest day is 15 hours dark 9 hours light.

I have very little space in the "side yard", so things are going to go into pots, or in very narrow beds in and around other things. I have some space in the "front yard" where rows of things can go. The "front yard" gets full sun almost all day, and the "side yard" is partly shaded in the morning and afternoon in summer. The actual "back yard" gets only a few hours of sun in summer, and no sun in winter, and is heavily shaded due to a large wild rose and some other shrubs (which I'm itching to make disappear).

We didnt eventalk about flowers just for the sake of their pretty blooms. Blanket flower has to be EVERYONE'S favorite, certainly is mine... (do you thinkits funny that its not growing in my garden right now? Ya me too.) and um, yucca, it would be my favorite if it would just GROW NICELY in my garden. I really really like coreopsis.

Are they useful flowers? Yucca, you can eat the root, right?

Thanks for the responses! This will be very helpful. I know a (dealer? lol, no, not really) a company that sells saffron corms, but they're so popular it seems that they never have them. They are perpetually sold out.

I did get a packet of nasturium seeds! I also have thyme and oregano, except my oregano doesn't look too good, like something has been nibbling on it. I've never experienced that with any sort of oregano, so I'm completely puzzled about that one.

 

[digitS']

Neko-Chan, I have an idea that Tasmania is a little like the white oak/madrone part of southern Oregon . . .

. . . but, with more moderate temperatures. Does that sound about right? I can't think of really where it would be.



Somewhere not quite as hot or as cold but without all the rain near the Pacific. That same kind of country is down into California along the east slopes of the Coast Range. But, that's really getting into quite hot country and Tasmania looks like it isn't that hot and dry during the summer months. Perhaps, the climate is something like what I have driven thru so many times between the Rogue River Valley in Oregon and the northern California coast.



Let me ask you this: how do rhododendrons and dogwood do in your corner of the world? Anyone have them growing around their homes?

Steve

 

[Neko-Chan]

That sounds about right. I compare it to Northern California, because that's where I'm from, but the summers are not as hot and dry. I think in comparison, we are more like sourthern or middle oregon.

Rhododendrons do very well here. There are gardens that are full of them in places. Summer can be hot, but is more likely to be muggy, with the occassional thunderstorm and rain, followed by warm, drying winds.

 

[so lucky]

I have found yucca to be very difficult to irradicate. Even a tiny piece of root will make a new plant. Its sharp sword-like fronds are not people-friendly. It only blooms for about three weeks, and is a big ole hairy obnoxious pincushion in your lawn the rest of the year. That being said, it is a useful plant. You can make lots of things from the roots and fronds, like rope and baskets. The roots are said to be nutritious. It does well in hot sun/dry conditions. The blooms are very pretty, like a giant lily of the valley, sort of. I would not want them in my yard again.:/

 

[thistlebloom]

I have found yucca to be very difficult to irradicate. Even a tiny piece of root will make a new plant. Its sharp sword-like fronds are not people-friendly. It only blooms for about three weeks, and is a big ole hairy obnoxious pincushion in your lawn the rest of the year. That being said, it is a useful plant. You can make lots of things from the roots and fronds, like rope and baskets. The roots are said to be nutritious. It does well in hot sun/dry conditions. The blooms are very pretty, like a giant lily of the valley, sort of. I would not want them in my yard again.:/

I'm in agreement with you So Lucky, we cleared a pile about the size of a VW bug, and found out it doesn't burn for about a year, and you fer- sher can't shred the awful stuff. The needles will break off in the toe of your boots and else where and cause inflammation.
The blooms are pretty and fragrant if you stick your nose in them, but to me none of that makes up for all the nastiness.
Did I mention I don't like it?