Pretty and Delicious: 8 Fun Edible Flowers to Plant With Kids
Calendula (a.k.a. pot marigolds)
Why: Calendula flowers are beautiful, daisy-like bloomers in striking yellow-orange hues. Their seeds are large, making them easier for kids to plant. Easy to grow and prolific, the culinary flowers of the calendula plant also boast medicinal qualities and are commonly used to soothe wounds, rashes, infection, inflammation and other conditions. Calendula petals are lovely on a salad and can also be dried, ground and used as a substitute for saffron.
When and where: The calendula thrives in full sun and is a self-sowing perennial flower. Saving calendula seeds for future planting is easy! Once the flower loses its petals, a seed head forms on the stem. Let the seeds dry and either fall naturally back into the soil or snap the seed head off and save the seeds to be planted the following spring. Calendula seeds can be planted in late March or as late as June for early fall blooms. (Buy calendula seeds.)
