Edimental plants are ornamental plants that are also edible. Edimentals include herbs and culinary plants where some or all of the plant is safe for human consumption.
-
Syneilesis palmata
Item #: 5617
Zones: 4a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 15" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Japan, Korea
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $21.60Regular priceUnit price per$27.00Sale price $21.60Sale -
Sold outTetrapanax papyrifer
Item #: 4676
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 80" tall
Culture: Sun to Light Shade
Origin: China, Taiwan
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Thymus neiceffii
Item #: 18324
Zones: 5a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 2" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Balkans
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $16.80Regular priceUnit price per$21.00Sale price $16.80Sale -
Sold outTrachycarpus fortunei 'Bulgaria'
Item #: 4250
Zones: 7b to 10b, possibly colder
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 240" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: China
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $30.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Trachycarpus fortunei 'Dwarf Delights'
Item #: 16072
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 216" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: China
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $24.00Regular priceUnit price per$30.00Sale price $24.00Sale -
Trachycarpus fortunei 'Taylor'
Item #: 3880
Zones: 7b to 10b, at least
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 360" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: China
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $24.00Regular priceUnit price per$30.00Sale price $24.00Sale -
Sold outTrachycarpus fortunei 'Wagnerianus'
Item #: 4903
Zones: 7a to 9b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 240" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Unknown
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $30.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Tradescantia 'Sweet Kate'
Item #: 4209
Zones: 5a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Trillium foetidissimum 'Baton Rouge'
Item #: 7103
Zones: 5a to 9b, at least
Dormancy: Summer, Fall
Height: 10" tall
Culture: Light Shade
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $24.00Regular priceUnit price per$30.00Sale price $24.00Sale -
Trillium lancifolium 'Close Knit Family'
Item #: 18682
Zones: 6a to 9b, possibly colder
Dormancy: Summer, Fall
Height: 10" tall
Culture: Light Shade
Origin: United States Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $30.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Trillium lancifolium 'Shotgun Wedding'
Item #: 1465
Zones: 6a to 9b, possibly colder
Dormancy: Summer, Fall
Height: 10" tall
Culture: Light Shade
Origin: United States Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.40Regular priceUnit price per$28.00Sale price $22.40Sale -
Sold outTrillium recurvatum 'Arcadia'
Item #: 8684
Zones: 5a to 9b
Dormancy: Summer, Fall
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Light Shade
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $30.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Trillium x recurvifolium 'Love Shack'
Item #: 16645
Zones: 5a to 9b
Dormancy: Summer, Fall
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Light Shade
Origin: United States Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $30.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Trillium underwoodii
Item #: 2973
Zones: 6a to 9b
Dormancy: Summer, Fall
Height: 8" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $37.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Verbena bonariensis
Item #: 1144
Zones: 7a to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 30" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: South America
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $20.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Sold outVerbena canadensis 'Snowflurry'
Item #: 1148
Zones: 5a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $20.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Verbena catharinae 'Lavender Frappe'
Item #: 9573
Zones: 7b to 10b, at least
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 1" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Brazil
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $16.80Regular priceUnit price per$21.00Sale price $16.80
Sale -
Verbena peruviana
Item #: 1154
Zones: 6a to 10b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 2" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Argentina, Brazil
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $20.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Verbena 'Pink Princess'
Item #: 10782
Zones: 8a to 10b, at least
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $20.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Sold outVerbena 'Princess Bride'
Item #: 6646
Zones: 7b to 10b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $20.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Verbena tenera 'Sissinghurst'
Item #: 1159
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 3" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $20.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Verbena tenuisecta 'Decked Out'
Item #: 5423
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 6" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $16.00Regular priceUnit price per$20.00Sale price $16.00Sale -
Sold outVernonia gigantea 'Jonesboro Giant'
Item #: 6548
Zones: 5a to 9b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 144" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $24.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Viola pedata 'Eco Artist Palette'
Item #: 7215
Zones: 4a to 8b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 3" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $24.00Regular priceUnit price per
More Information About Edimentals
Humans have been cultivating plants for over 12,000 years and in that time, someone, somewhere, has tasted almost every single plant. The results weren't always pretty, but these intrepid tasters discovered an amazing variety of culinary plants that also happen to look great in the landscape.
What is an Edimental Plant?
By the strict definition, an edimental is a vegetable (leaf, root, stem) that you eat, but not a fruit, seed, herb, leaf, or any part that you make tea or alcohol from. However, for our purposes, we are going to define an edimental as any plant that you can eat in some form, raw or after careful preparation.
Of course not every culinary plant is as tasty as a turnip and some garden perennials require a lot of processing to be made edible, but the adventurous perennial gardener can greatly expand their palette if they are inclined to. Included in our list are plants that can be eaten raw, plants that require cooking to remove toxic or distasteful compounds (especially Calcium oxalate), plants that are popular with cultures outside of the US, plants that were popular edibles in the past, subsistence crops (plants that take a lot of effort to prepare but provide only a few calories) and famine crops (plants that have distasteful flavors or textures but are be eaten when times are tough).
Do Your Research
When growing edimentals in the perennial garden, it is important to know which plant part to eat. People can eat almost any plant part including roots, bulbs (corms, rhizomes, tubers), stems, twigs, bark, pith, stem hearts (cortex), immature or mature leaves, leaf petioles, fruits, flower buds, flowers, nectar, pollen, seeds, or seed oil. In preparing our list of culinary plants we consulted many sources but relied heavily on the "Plants for a Future" website (www.pfaf.org) as a reference to the edibility rating of our plants. They also provide brief preparation guidelines and notes on toxicity.
Disclaimer - we have not eaten most of these plants and advise caution and plenty of research before eating any plant in these lists. Remember, here at PDN, we grow perennial plants for their looks, not their taste. We also use pesticides (mostly organic) to keep our plants healthy, so please wait for new foliage to emerge before tasting.