EDIBLE AND ORNAMENTAL CORNFLOWERS - OUT OF THE BLUES!

Lat. name: Centaurea Cyanus
popularly known as Cornflower or Bachelor´s button
Family: Asteraceae

It originated in Europe, an annual plant that has flowers in various blue hues from light to deep blue. They are common in the fields where farmers grow wheat.. barley, oats, rye among others.

In the folkloric world, it was said that a young man wore this to show that he was in love with a certain woman and when the flower faded, that meant his love was not returned by that woman.

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USES:
Nowadays, they can be planted as ornamental plant in any garden and it´s easy to cultivate. The blue colors can also be used as pigments for coloring. The flowers are edible and can be used for culinary decoration that add color to salads. Twinings add this as ingredient to their Lady Grey tea, and is among my favorites. it is a milder tea compared to the Earl Grey. I love its aroma and mild taste comparable to the sensitiveness of a lady.

We have these flowers around end of Spring when the wheats near our fields start to grow higher and higher. The farmers include them when sowing the seeds of the wheat so that when the wheat field is fully grown with the wheat, they would look like a sea of blue flowers. These flowers are more concentrated along the side of the road where the farmers drive to til the fields.

They can be gathered freely from the fields because they are actually wild flowers. My walking Lily, mom in-law´s chihuahua princess, to the wheat fields gives me the chance to pick some and make floral arrangements or a bouquet like the ones shown here.

Sometimes, I add contrast and include some flowers from my garden to give a colorful amazing look. But, I think a bunch would do nicely if the vase chosen corresponds to the flower colors...

References:

https://challengingartsandcrafts.blogspot.co.at/2015/05/out-of-blues.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centaurea_cyanus

Note: All photos were taken by the author