GARDENING : Wants Names of Edible Flowers for the Salad
QUESTION: We want to grow flowers that can be used in salads and drinks, but are not sure which are safe. Is there any way you can tell if a flower is not edible? Please name a few toxic ones and a few that are edible.
ANSWER: There’s no way you can tell if a flower is toxic or not, except by eating it. Be careful which ones you use.
Some handsome flowers, such as delphinium are very toxic if eaten, while nasturtiums and violets are widely used. Here are a few that are poisonous and should not be used: bleeding heart (dicentra), buttercup, delphinium (larkspur), foxglove, hydrangeas, iris, lily of the valley, lupine, monkshood, narcissus, periwinkle (vinca major and vinca minor), primrose, azaleas, star of Bethlehem and wisteria, to name only a few.
Edible flowers include bergamot (bee balm or Oswego tea) borage, daylily (Hemerocallis), hollyhock (Althea) impatiens, lavender, marigold, pot marigold (calendula), nasturtiums, pansies and portulaca.
There are many more that can be added to both lists. Don’t select flowers because they look edible, and avoid flowers grown in greenhouses (they could have been treated with pesticides).
Are Your Tomatoes Nematode-Resistant?
Q: Could you suggest what to do about nematodes and tomatoes?
A: Many modern tomato varieties are resistant and that information is usually listed after the variety’s name, with a capital N, for nematode-resistant. However, if you buy tomatoes as small plants, that information may not be on the label, so it is best to start with seed because seed catalogue s always point out this resistance.
In the Burpee (Warminster, Pa., 18974) catalogue for instance, it lists Burpee’s Supersteak Hybrid VFN, the VFN standing for resistance to verticillium wilt, fusarium wilt, and nematodes. At the nursery, you might look for Better Boy, Better Bush, Beefmaster and Sweet Million--all are nematode resistant.
Cereal Seems to Be Potent Against Ants
Q: I think I may have an ant control that is absolutely safe to use. A friend told me to use Cream of Wheat to repel them. I had scads of them coming into my kitchen at various times throughout the hot season.
When I sprinkled it along the foundation and baseboards wherever I saw them, they disappeared. I am not sure whether it was the Cream of Wheat or a change in the weather that did it. I would like to know if other folks have had success with this remedy.
A: We would be happy to have folks tell us if this remedy has worked for them, and also hear about other homemade, non-toxic remedies. We will be glad to pass them along.
Apple May Not Have Been ‘Forbidden Fruit’
Q: Please tell us if the apple was the original “forbidden fruit” of the Bible. We don’t believe it was the apple as we know it.
A: We also doubt that it was the apple. It would have had to have been yellow (Proverbs 25:11 tells of golden apples) and it had to have been grown on a tree to fit the Bible story. Most researchers today believe it was the apricot.
The 12th-Century English crusaders christened the fruit pomelo, coined from the Latin for apple, pomus, with its Greek equivalent, melos. Tracing the very earliest history of the apple is no easy task.
The truth of the matter is that no one seems able to point to the exact location of the apple’s origin. Homer, who lived sometime between the 12th and 7th centuries B.C. mentioned the fruit, but did not provide a detailed description of tree or fruit, and he used the word melon which was a generic term for any fruit that grew on a tree. Hybridizers have apple trees that grow in hot climates, something we didn’t have in Bible times.
