I love Hemerocallis – their flowers are absolutely gorgeous.

Hemerocallis - in flower

The downside of them is given away by their other name – Day Lily.  After just one day, those beautiful blooms are over and need to be dead-headed.

Hemerocallis - the next day

But there is another way, you can eat hemerocallis.  So, rather than just add the flowers to the compost bin, sometimes I eat them when I am deadheading my flowers in the evening – they are in their prime.  I know that within 24 hours, the flowers will be over anyway so I am losing nothing when I look at the garden and I am gaining the pleasure of eating them.  The flowers are very crisp, a bit like a smooth tasty lettuce.  I am afraid that I have no sense of smell, so can’t describe their flavour in detail – maybe someone who reads this could add this information in a comment.

Supper - the alternative

This year, I had it in mind to have a hemerocallis salad, but the menu plans didn’t fall into line, so tonight I decided to add the flowers to my pizza.  I will admit to eating the flowers before the pizza, but it was a very enjoyable meal.  A really beautful plate of food to be savoured.

There are of course many other flowers that are edible and can add interest to your plate – what is your favourite?