Nasturium, Empress of India

Empress of India’s dazzling red flowers along with large bushy shape, make these edible flowers a real treat in the garden. Both the flowers and the leaves can be eaten and add a bright spicy flavor to salads —adding a unique easy-to-harvest twist to salads you just can't find in the grocery store. Alone with being a great treat, they can help to repel whiteflies, cabbage loopers and other garden pests!

Nasturium: Possibly the flower I reach for when I plan out a new garden space! Nasturtiums are a beautiful, large, edible flower which look great spilling over the edge of raised beds or tumbling down from hanging baskets. With flowers that range from red to yellow to pink, they look great to people and pollinators alike. Flowers are a slightly spicy, peppery flavor that go great on salads or the seed bods can be pickled for a late season treat.

Growing Tips: Nasturtiums are a remarkably rugged edible flower. They can handle some pretty infertile soils, but will bloom more densely when some good quality compost has been worked into the soil before planting. Put plants in about 12 inches apart and I recommend closer to the edges of the bed as they can produce vines that do best spilling into the walkway rather than choking neighboring veggies.