Roses for every edible balcony garden

The hot day encoraged my ten-year-old potted rose to blossom. Not wanting the rosebuds to get toasted the next hot day, I brought them inside, and arranged as ikebana.

Inside I could marvel intimately at their unfurling, peaking, and decline over two days. But not wanting the young petals to fade before being appreciated fully, I sprinkled them into in the evenings salad. Rosepetals have a velvety texture, and taste like...salad dressing.

Thai rose petal and cucumber salad by Jill Duplix, photo by Marina Oliphant

Flowers are sometimes maligned as 'Useless ornament' in Permaculture circles, but roses can certinaly defend themselves.

Yes, they give me salad garnish. They also fill the air with fragrance, and give me good endorphins with their beauty. I love blooms as a renewable jewelry alternative, a year-round valentine's day present from God (bless him!).

Cecilia and fragrant rose trout fishing on January 1st 2010 from New Year's Adventure

Aung San suu kyi with her flowers, unsuerpassably beautiful woman.

Some women give more honour to the flower's life than others, by living out the flowers generous, life-giving spirit long after the bloom would have faded. Aung San, I still have lots of good years left, I might still do something special with my life. And my flowers.

Find thorny climbing roses, and they can replace barbed wire and protect your balcony from marauding possums, as the african villages surrond themselves with Briar Hedges to keep out the lions.

Protection by law?
Thorny climbing Rose photo from 'Gardening Resources for Attorneys'

Patio Roses are miniature, prolific flowering, and very tough. The potted one above was reduced to a mere stick after getting lost in the bushes and forgotten. Then with almost no sun, it produced this single brave flower. Lets see how many blooms some regular watering and Seasol liquid will stimulate.

I put its sick mate, the more vividly pink rose, into the ground, where it is taking very good care of itself.

Roses like sunshine and an airy spot, for maximum flowering and to keep any mildew from developing. If their pot is little enough, you can re-position it if its not doing well on a cramped balcony. Better still, gift it to a sunny friend.

For a list of what flowers are good for eating, click on this marvelous website all about edible flowers. I'm now looking for recipes for fuchsias, my favorite balcony garden flower, and now I have a Permacultural excuse for growing them too.