Edible Flowers, Zucchini Problems, and White Specks in Potting Soil

In this episode we talk about the white perlite in potting mixes, spend the main segment talking about edible flowers, and answer a question about why a listener’s zucchini plants aren’t producing well. 

Find Ellen’s recipe for the Magnolia flower cake here.

:30 Plant Noob: What are the white specks in my pots?
3:41 Eat/Drink/Grow: Growing Edible Flowers
17:43 Love Letters and Questions What’s with the lack of zucchini?

List of edible flowers below.

Those white flecks that stay white, and often rise to the top of the pot in houseplants, are perlite.

Ellen’s Magnolia Flower Cake is an edible flower celebration!

C.L. grows a mix of edible flowers in a livestock trough outside her kitchen door. The summer this photo was taken the trough included sunflowers, nasturtiums, calendula, bachelor buttons and borage.

If a female zucchini flower is fertilized you should quickly see the squash developing just below the bloom.

Some Edible Flowers:

Bachelor’s Buttons (Centaurea cyanus)
Borage (Borago officinalis)
Cherry Tree Blossoms (Prunus sp)
Flowers from broccoli, arugula, cilantro, and peas
Magnolia  (Magnolia sp.)
Marigolds (Tagetes hybrids)
Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
Nasturtium (Tropaeolum sp. and hybrids)
Summer Phlox (Phlox paniculata)

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