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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Yucca aloifolia 'Magenta Magic'
Item #: 13747
Zones: 7a to 9b, guessing
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.40Regular priceUnit price per$28.00Sale price $22.40Sale -
Yucca 'Dragon Slayer' PP 36,889
Item #: 18530
Zones: 5b to 10b, at least
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $21.60Regular priceUnit price per$27.00Sale price $21.60
Sale -
Yucca flaccida 'Color Guard'
Item #: 1568
Zones: 4a to 10b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 20" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $18.40Regular priceUnit price per$23.00Sale price $18.40Sale -
Yucca flaccida 'Gold Heart'
Item #: 1179
Zones: 5a to 10b, at least
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 20" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $18.40Regular priceUnit price per$23.00Sale price $18.40Sale -
Yucca flaccida 'Hairy'
Item #: 6066
Zones: 5a to 9b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 18" 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 -
Yucca flaccida 'Wilder's Wonderful'
Item #: 6111
Zones: 4b to 9b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $28.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Yucca gloriosa 'Variegata'
Item #: 2104
Zones: 7a to 10b, at least
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 48" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $23.20Regular priceUnit price per$29.00Sale price $23.20Sale -
Yucca linearifolia
Item #: 7190
Zones: 7a to 10b, guessing
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 48" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Mexico, United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $20.80Regular priceUnit price per$26.00Sale price $20.80Sale -
Yucca rostrata 'Blue-haired Lady' PPAF
Item #: 18249
Zones: 5b to 10b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 144" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Mexico, United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Yucca rostrata 'Sapphire Skies'
Item #: 6697
Zones: 5b to 10b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 48" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Mexico, United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $23.20Regular priceUnit price per$29.00Sale price $23.20Sale -
Yucca 'Silver Anniversary' PP 31,437
Item #: 12621
Zones: 5b to 10b, at least
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $21.60Regular priceUnit price per$27.00Sale price $21.60
Sale -
Sold outYucca 'Silversword'
Item #: 13298
Zones: 4a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: United States Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $30.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Yucca smalliana 'Bright Edge'
Item #: 822
Zones: 5a to 10b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $20.00Regular priceUnit price per$25.00Sale price $20.00Sale -
Sold outYucca 'Tromping Around'
Item #: 12995
Zones: 7a to 9b, at least
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 60" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: United States Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $28.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Zingiber mioga 'Crug's Zing'
Item #: 12222
Zones: 6a to 9b, possibly colder
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 48" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Shade
Origin: China, 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 -
Zingiber mioga 'Hot Lips'
Item #: 17929
Zones: 6a to 9b, possibly colder
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 60" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Shade
Origin: China, Japan
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $23.20Regular priceUnit price per$29.00Sale price $23.20Sale -
Sold outZingiber mioga 'Lushan Gold'
Item #: 16850
Zones: 6a to 9b, guessing
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 48" 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 -
Zingiber mioga 'White Feather'
Item #: 7501
Zones: 6a to 9b, possibly colder
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Japan
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $30.00Regular 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.