Look out ladybugs! Those Marigolds are mine!

Flowers are beautiful. Butterflies, bees and bugs come to them for food and I always wonder if I can too. I’ve heard stories of people mistakenly eating poisonous plants in search of food and the thought of mistakenly eating a plant scares me a lot. Even more so, since I found out that the beautiful flowering bush growing in my front yard is deadly. It’s an Oleander. Before I knew it was poisonous I let my kids play with the flowers.

It is good to know, thanks to a lens called, The Edible Marigold by BuckHawk, that there are beautiful flowers I can safely enjoy in my garden as well as on my plate. BuckHawk’s well written, tasty and educational lens is a perfect example of a lensmaster/author who did her research before making a lens. She didn’t just click it together in a few minutes and call it a lens. Instead, she has covered a lens in great tips, tasty recipes, pretty pictures, and beneficial facts about marigolds.

For example, I learned that there are two genuses of marigolds. The French Marigolds is part of the Tagetes genuses. “The French Marigolds make wonderful insect protection in the vegetable garden. Plus, moles think the roots of marigolds are distasteful. So planted around the perimeter of any garden they will deter moles from ruining flowers and vegetables” (The Edible Marigold). I also learned that the Marigold (Calendula) could be used for the treatment for skin problems and even inflammation.

I really love BuckHawk’s idea of blossom ice cubes. It is so easy to do and I know my kids would love it if I made them. Her flower-infused syrup recipe sounds delicious and her flower butter tip is so simple to do, I have no reason why not to try these recipes. To be honest, I like all the simple to follow recipes and food tips she had featured on this page. Recipes should always be simple and easy to follow in my opinion.

I’ve tried growing marigolds in my garden before, but I have not had much success. After reading this lens and learning how beneficial marigolds can be to my garden, my health and that they’re edible too, I am definitely going to try growing them in my garden again. I only wish BuckHawk would display a few more large pictures of marigolds throughout the lens or put several together and display them in the photo gallery module so we can enjoy the brightly colored flowers a little more.

Now...I am going to take a look at BuckHawk’s other edible flower lenses.

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Image Credit: Marigold Garden - Greeting Card by DonnaGrayson