Petal snacks

Since I’m starting my spring garden, I wondered which edible flowers I could plant. I talked to Jahd’n Darshan, an employee at Talini’s Garden Center and Nursery (5601 Folsom Boulevard) about which plants work well here.

“Violas will actually be ending soon. You normally plant them in the fall. They don’t have a lot of flavor, but they look pretty. Bright orange would be cool in a salad.

“Nasturtiums, though, have a peppery, citrus tang. They do better with late-afternoon shade and slow down in late summer. Arugula flowers would also be peppery, and you don’t want those to go to seed anyway.

“If you have too many squash coming in, you can just pick the flowers off and batter them and cook them. They may not have a lot of flavor, but it’s the cool factor of eating a flower.”