Our front yard garden is full of flowers that attract beneficial insects like butterflies and bees. They also attract hummingbirds and, in fact, this morning a hummingbird spent quite a bit of time feeding right next to me! It was really lovely - I don't think I've ever been quite so close to a hummingbird before.
We also have edible and useful flowers like echinacea, safflower, nasturtiums, scarlet runner beans, borage, lavender, and buckwheat. I have tried to find as many edible flowers as possible and experiment with planting them. Hollyhocks and perennial sunflowers are supposed to be edible as well, but I haven't tried eating them yet.
Other edible plants that are hidden in this flower garden are: rhubarb, potatoes, strawberries (both domesticated and wild strawberries), currents, mint, comfrey, tomatoes, blueberries, serviceberries, sunchokes, a wild plum tree, and a filbert tree.
The long term goal is to fill the yard with edible plants and have very little grass. We have about 2/3 of an acre and right now we have to spend time mowing every few weeks, but we are making progress toward our goal as you can see from the photos.
No comments:
Post a Comment