Edible flower head

Nasturtium ought to do it.

Nah, just a gardener.

Yeah, nasturtiums are the classic edible flower found in fine dining deserts everywhere. Even better when sugar dipped.

Violets are also good, as are chrysanthemum, geranium and lavender. But, I gotta say, this question would have been far quicker to Google than to ask here. Wikipedia even has an edible flower list.

Okay, off to some more dandelion tea...

Jeff

Not necessarily quicker. Especially since the requirements were for a plant with a trailing growth habit, as the others you mention do not have but nasturtiums do.

Also marigold, chamomile, pansy, calendula.

Marigolds are delicious!!!! And they bloom plentifully all summer. They do tend to grow up, rather than down. In basket you would combine them with other trailing things.

Tulips, I understand, come in a variety of flavors.

Alessandra Kelley said:

Tulips are poisonous.

Most members of the lily family are.

The notable exceptions are onions and garlic.

Except that even they are poisonous to cats and dogs.

I would not recommend eating any unfamiliar bulb flower.

Click to expand...

Right (and wrong).
Always tread carefully, sometimes only one part of a plant might be edible, or even only one type of the plant.

http://content.ces.ncsu.edu/choosing-and-using-edible-flowers-ag-790.pdf
Tulips are listed as edible in most edible flower lists and plant books, but not the bulb part.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bou...ie-nichols-mcgee/1012560405?ean=9780761116233
My favorite gardening book.

My grandmother used to have sugar coated roses in a candy dish. Daffodils are poisonous; don't eat those. I hear violets are okay.

I had a friend who used to randomly pick flowers from people's yards and eat them. I refused to copy her, but she did convince me to try honeysuckle nectar. You gently pluck the stamen from the flower and there's a drop of nectar on the end, which you can touch to your tongue. As I recall, it was sweet, like honey, but not as thick. (This was twenty years ago, so the memory has faded.)

Kylabelle nailed it: Nasturtiums. I grow them every year, dead easy for any gardener. They actually prefer crappy, non-fertilized soil and are really tolerant of dry conditions. I grow some in the front of the house for decoration, and some in pots in my garden for eating in salads. The flowers have a sweet-spicy flavor reminiscent of honey mustard, and are spectacularly good in salads.

Another good possibility is squash flowers. Big, showy and excellent, raw or cooked.

Another thing I use in salads in summer: the petals of the ubiquitous beautiful native fireweed (genus Epilobium). Bright reddish-purple, thin, flavorless but nutritionally good (evening primrose family) and look terrific sprinkled in the salad mix.

caw

Alessandra Kelley said:

Tulips are poisonous.

Click to expand...

Not to moose, who view them as lollipops. I've stopped trying to grow them, for exactly this reason.

caw

Nasturtiums hang low.

Google some images and you will see. In an untended hanging basket, in the right climate, they could even be found trailing along the ground.

ETA: Not only that, but in the right climate, again, they are prolific self-sowers and could be found volunteering; that is, not actually planted but growing out of dirt accumulated in a gutter or the like.

Marigolds. Violets. And, as others have mentioned, nasturitium. The latter tastes like black pepper. Flowers and leaves can be eaten. Are good in salads. If you try to cook them, they become mush.

Kylabelle said:

Nasturtiums hang low.

Google some images and you will see. In an untended hanging basket, in the right climate, they could even be found trailing along the ground.

Click to expand...

Only some varieties. There are both trailing and upright forms, the latter including some dwarf varieties. I plant my beds with several, to get layers. But all are good to eat.

caw

Orianna2000 said:

I had a friend who used to randomly pick flowers from people's yards and eat them. I refused to copy her, but she did convince me to try honeysuckle nectar. You gently pluck the stamen from the flower and there's a drop of nectar on the end, which you can touch to your tongue. As I recall, it was sweet, like honey, but not as thick. (This was twenty years ago, so the memory has faded.)

Click to expand...

My parents had honeysuckle growinng over their lilacs. It is sweet, and smells lovely as well!

blacbird said:

Not to moose, who view them as lollipops. I've stopped trying to grow them, for exactly this reason.

caw

Click to expand...

Thank you. Just what I needed to know - in the sense of its been a long day......

Also gave me the Monty Python moment - a moose bit my sister once. Moose bites can be very nasty.

Something has been eating the tops of the tulips I planted at the end of last year - well it was and now it has stopped and they are getting taller (like an inch or so). Probably slugs. Not quite as scenic as a moose.
And whatever it was hasn't eaten the iris or daffodil leaves...

Nasturtiums - leave some of the flowers to seed and they are tasty too - peppery. Can be preserved in vinegar.

blacbird said:

Not to moose, who view them as lollipops. I've stopped trying to grow them, for exactly this reason.

caw

Click to expand...

Bloody hell.... all I get is slugs!

mirandashell said:

Bloody hell.... all I get is slugs!

Click to expand...

Slugs are also edible.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodandd...evision-chef-Hugh-Fearnley-Whittingstall.html