As the story goes, long ago in a faraway land of milk and honey, there lived a people transformed by their diet of lotus flowers, made far too relaxed and content forOdysseus, aman with places to go and people to see. Fast-forward to the present day, to the land of skim milk and Splenda, where the harried odyssey of life has spawned the Slow Foods Movement, a group of people who value “taste, tradition, and the honest pleasure of food.” To Slow Food advocates, sharing well-grown, carefully prepared foods with people you enjoy, munching marigolds, and dining on dianthusmight be the epitome of gastronomy. As a gardener, I find the color and fragrance that flowers add to a plate very appealing. Why stop at smelling the roses when you can eat them, too? Why not make the water we use on our landscapes garnish our dinner plates, too? Frugality and frivolity are companionable garden bedfellows.

Artichokes are cultivated primarily for their edible flower buds, but in the garden their serrated silver-blue foliage also makes a bold accent that complements both ornamental grasses and evergreen shrubs. Artichokes thrive in the warmest microclimates in central and southernNewMexico, so plantsmay take a few years to become established enough to produce a good crop of thistlelike buds. If your garden isn’t warm enough for these Mediterranean sun-lovers or the meditative preparation of artichokes seems too much work for the repast they provide, try steaming the buds of common annual sunflowers. Serve them drizzled with olive oil and lightly salted for a compromise between fast preparation and slow food enjoyment.

 

 

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