Magazine

The culinary use of flowers dates back thousands of years to the Chinese, Greek and Romans. Many cultures use flowers in their traditional cooking--think of squash blossoms in Italian food and rose petals in Indian food. Adding flowers to your food can be a nice way to add color, flavor, and a little whimsy. Some are spicy, and some herbacious, while others are floral and fragrant. The range is pretty surprising. It's not uncommon to see flower petals used in salads, teas, and as garnish for desserts, but they inspire...

Most plants in our environment offer many benefits, including beauty, privacy, food, fragrance and medicine. But there are a few plants out there that can prove harmful when inappropriately used or accidentally eaten or touched. Gardeners, particularly those with young children and pets, should familiarize themselves with these potential foes. Numerous reference books have been written on the subject of toxic plants, including some that have excellent illustrations and/or photographs. However, there may be some conflicting information from one author to another. Stick with books that cite references so that...

Depending on your perspective, the little dandelion flowers that dot green lawns with yellow this time of year can be a cheerful sign of warmer days, a pesky weed to be destroyed or, once they’ve transformed into downy orbs, wish-fulfillment predictors. To others, they represent free lunch. Dandelion greens now appear in many supermarkets, but if your lawn isn’t treated with chemicals (or down the street from an industrial site) there’s no reason you can’t pluck and eat the greens growing in your own backyard—in salads, sautéed or wherever you’d use...