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 'Touch of Class'
Item #: 4625
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 2 qt. (1.9 L)
Regular price $32.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Hosta 'Trendsetter' PP 33,296
Item #: 16708
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3 qt. (2.8 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Hosta 'Twice as Mice'
Item #: 13304
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 5" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 2 qt. (1.9 L)
Regular price $32.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Hosta 'Uptown Girl'
Item #: 5215
Zones: 3a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 2 qt. (1.9 L)
Regular price $32.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Hosta 'Vanilla Bean'
Item #: 10527
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 4" tall
Culture: Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $35.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Hosta 'Voices in the Wind' PP 33,265
Item #: 16835
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3 qt. (2.8 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Hosta 'Waterslide' PP 30,303
Item #: 12697
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 16" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 2 qt. (1.9 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Hosta 'Wheee!' PP 23,565
Item #: 9485
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 2 qt. (1.9 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Hosta 'Wild Imagination' PP 34,269
Item #: 17268
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 22" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 2 qt. (1.9 L)
Regular price $30.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Hosta 'Wind beneath My Wings' PP 33,317
Item #: 15968
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 'Wu-La-La' PP 31,309
Item #: 14305
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3 qt. (2.8 L)
Regular price $30.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Iris x ampliflora 'Ming Treasure'
Item #: 17217
Zones: 6b to 9b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 60" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: China
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Sold out
Iris cristata 'Eco Orchid Giant'
Item #: 17856
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 5" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Shade
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $25.00Regular priceUnit price perNext crop available: 05/17/2024Sold out -
Iris cristata 'Eco White Angel'
Item #: 6995
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 6" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $23.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Iris cristata 'Mountain Girl'
Item #: 10784
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 6" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $23.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Iris cristata 'Powder Blue Giant'
Item #: 2592
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Shade
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $23.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Iris cristata 'Vein Mountain'
Item #: 4073
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $23.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Iris ensata 'Queen's Tiara'
Item #: 7650
Zones: 5a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Japan
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $27.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Sold out
Iris ensata 'Silverband'
Item #: 1349
Zones: 5a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 28" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Japan
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $27.00Regular priceUnit price perSold out -
Iris japonica 'Eco Easter'
Item #: 5768
Zones: 7a to 10b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Light Shade to Shade
Origin: China, Japan
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $25.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Iris japonica 'Porcelain Maiden'
Item #: 9990
Zones: 7a to 10b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Light Shade to Shade
Origin: China
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $23.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Iris japonica 'Skirt Chaser'
Item #: 9991
Zones: 7a to 10b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Light Shade to Shade
Origin: China, Japan
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $23.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Iris japonica 'Wuhan Angel'
Item #: 8518
Zones: 7b to 10b, at least
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 20" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Shade
Origin: China
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $23.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Iris sibirica 'Double Standards'
Item #: 17693
Zones: 4a to 7b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 34" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $25.00Regular 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.