You might only think of flowers as decorations, gifts, plants, or landscaping, but there is so much more to them than that! Here are a few ways you can use flowers in your diet, home, and life!
Tea Time!
Many flowers can be found in teas! They are great for added health benefits, taste, and even smell. They are often dried, and mixed into tea blend or used on their own for great tasting teas! A few of the more common ones include; Rose, which can relive stomach aches and help in blood circulation, Jasmine, which can help to reduce stress and aid in digestion, Apple Flower, which can help to aid in digestion and improve your complexion, Lavender, which is calming and can aid in relieving stomach and head aches, and Honeysuckle, which can help relive a sore throat and other flu symptoms. My personal favorite flower teas, are those than have lavender, rose, and jasmine in them, simply because I love how they taste!
Food Garnishes
Flowers make great garnishes for things like cakes, cupcakes, cookies, pies, tarts, and more! You can of course use just about any flower you want to, but its best to use the edible ones! Roses, Thyme, Impatients, Squash Blossoms, Dandelions, Nasturtiums, Marigolds, Chive Blossoms, Apple Blossoms, and Pansies are all examples of the many edible flowers that are great to use as garnishes for your food!
Flowers in Food?!
You can garnish food with flowers, but can you really cook and bake with them too? Yes, you can! And they really are great too! Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms, Lavender shortbread cookies, Honey Suckle jelly, fried Squash Blossoms, Dandelion fritters, Nasturtium Butter, and Hibiscus macaroons are just a few examples of some recipes that feature some amazing flowers!
For Your Skin
Flowers can have such great benefits for your skin. They are most commonly used in scrubs, bath salts, bath bombs, soaps, and cleansers. Dried lavender buds make a great addition to bath salts and scrubs, because they give a lovely aroma, calming effect and helps with dry skin. Rose Petals also do well in scrubs and bath salts and, like lavender, they smell amazing, and they help with sun damage. Echinacea can be added to skin products to help with swelling and infections. Calendula will add a brilliant color to your bath salts, scrubs and bombs, and is also will help with many skin complaints and has a soothing effect. You can find many flowers in store bought products as well, but if you can, try adding them to your home made skin products and see what you think!
Gifts
Sometimes, flowers can be the very best thing to give to someone as a gift. For people who don't need anything, or you don't know what to give to them, flowers are almost always a great choice! Bouquets of roses for your special someone on Valentine's Day, a bunch of Daises make a great 'just because' gift, Sunflowers, Lilies, Tulips, and Zinnias are nice, bright flowers that are great to brighten up a hospital room or cheer a sick person up! Mixed varieties are great birthday gifts too! Personalizing a bouquet for someone you care about is a great way to make them feel special!
Decorations
Flowers are so beautiful, cheerful, and lively, that they make great decorations, center pieces, and additions for parties, tables, your house, or garden! Just about any flower can be used to add color, life, and beauty to where ever you chose to put them! I love to use wild flowers in a simple vase for a casual center piece on our table. We usually plant Zinnias in our garden because they are easy to grow, pick, and use as gifts! Flowers used in weddings, tea parties, dinner parties, wreaths, center pieces, vases, or gardens always make a statement!
You can grow your own flowers, buy them from stores or nurseries, get them from places like flower delivery services , or get them from friends, but however you get them, you now know how to use them in so many cool ways!
My Thoughts
How do I use flowers? Well, I am always learning, and I want to try baking and cooking with them soon! I usually use flowers in teas, bath products, gifts, and home decorations! Have any tips for me on how to be more creative with flowers? Let me know!
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Keep Healthy, Happy, and Safe!
H. Banana
