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.
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Hosta 'Branching Out'
Item #: 9541
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3 qt. (2.8 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per
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Hosta 'Brother Stefan'
Item #: 5351
Zones: 3a to 7b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 22" tall
Culture: Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3 qt. (2.8 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Sold outHosta 'Captain Kirk'
Item #: 4712
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 2 qt. (1.9 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Sold outHosta 'Cathedral Windows'
Item #: 6600
Zones: 3a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 21" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3 qt. (2.8 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per
Next crop available: 04/17/2026Sold out -
Hosta 'Christmas Eve'
Item #: 16076
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3 qt. (2.8 L)
Regular price $32.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Hosta 'Church Mouse'
Item #: 4516
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 8" tall
Culture: Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $27.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Hosta 'Dancing in the Moonlight' PP 35,175
Item #: 18261
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 2 qt. (1.9 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Hosta 'Dancing with Dragons' PP 32,040
Item #: 16630
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 2 qt. (1.9 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Sold outHosta 'Deep Sea Dive'
Item #: 15971
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3 qt. (2.8 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Hosta 'Designer Genes'
Item #: 2861
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 2 qt. (1.9 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Hosta 'Diamond Lake' PP 30,769
Item #: 13553
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 17" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3 qt. (2.8 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Hosta 'Dixie Cups'
Item #: 7209
Zones: 3a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 15" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3 qt. (2.8 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Hosta 'Dressed to Kill'
Item #: 13039
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3 qt. (2.8 L)
Regular price $35.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Sold outHosta 'Drop-dead Gorgeous' PP 33,318
Item #: 17102
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 30" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3 qt. (2.8 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Hosta 'Earth Angel'
Item #: 4715
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3 qt. (2.8 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Hosta 'Echo the Sun' PP 35,943
Item #: 17266
Zones: 3a to 7b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 19" tall
Culture: Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3 qt. (2.8 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Hosta 'Edge of Dawn'
Item #: 15966
Zones: 3a to 7b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 25" tall
Culture: Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3 qt. (2.8 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Hosta 'Empress Wu' PP 20,774
Item #: 2863
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 48" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3 qt. (2.8 L)
Regular price $30.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Sold outHosta 'Etched Glass' PP 30,748
Item #: 13527
Zones: 3a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 15" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3 qt. (2.8 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Hosta 'Fingernails'
Item #: 11399
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 1" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Sold outHosta 'Fire and Ice'
Item #: 2754
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 15" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 2 qt. (1.9 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Sold outHosta 'First Frost'
Item #: 7213
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 16" tall
Culture: Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 2 qt. (1.9 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Sold outHosta 'Floramora'
Item #: 6112
Zones: 3a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 2 qt. (1.9 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Sold outHosta 'Frog in my Throat' PPAF
Item #: 18292
Zones: 3a to 7b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 2 qt. (1.9 L)
Regular price $35.00Regular 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 a culinary plant as any plant that you can eat, including herbs and spices, fruits, seeds, as well as any plant part that can be used to make tea or can be fermented into spirits.
Of course not every culinary plant is as tasty as a turnip, and some garden perennials require quite a bit of processing (cooking, pickling, etc.) 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, 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.