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In a garden of Nasturtiums it's always spring. In Melbourne, they can bloom all year round; an ever-present cascade of reds, yellows, and oranges. Their leaves look like rounded lily pads, worthy of being in a fairy tale. On a rainy day, you can imagine the garden bugs huddled underneath, using them like a tiny umbrella. And of course they are delicious. Nasturtium leaves have a distinct wasabi-watercress flavour. The flowers have milder notes of sugar and pepper, and the s

I just love flowers. I'll never pass by without stopping to enjoy them. Designed for pollinators, I wonder if bees also stop to appreciate their beauty? I like to think so. A moment of admiration as they hover above; deciding on the prettiest flower to settle on. Borage, Borago officinalis, is spectacular. A herb of blue stars, twinkling as they sway in the breeze. But Borage isn't just for admiring. It's also for eating. It tastes like cucumber with a hint of shellfish. The

Any plant with 'stinging' in its name sounds like a menace. Stinging nettles are so damn delicious that, faced with constant threat of being eaten, they evolved little hairy hypodermic needles to deter you. I gotta give nettles some kudos. They're badasses, with a reputation for violence. They know what they want, and they don't want to be eaten. Don't let this frighten you. Their bark is worse than their bite—while yes, they prickle, they're nowhere near as bad as all the

Dandelions are so nostalgic. I have childhood memories of closing my eyes and whispering a wish before blowing a cloud of dandelion seeds spinning into the air. If I cleared the puffball in one breath, it was a sign my wish would be granted. During school recess, the flowers would be woven into crowns or gathered into a tiny posy. People consider them weeds, but why? Europeans brought dandelions intentionally to Australia in the early 1800s, not as a useless weed, but as a

Once upon a time, Ginkgo was a dinosaur booby trap. Their seeds, stinking like vomit, lured ancient scavengers by mimicking the smell of a rotting dinosaur carcass. After a bite, the dinosaurs realised they’d been punked, spat out their snack, and unwittingly spread the seed. Trees in the Ginkgo family have existed for more than 300 million years. Ginkgo biloba is the only species left in its entire family of trees. The leaves look unmistakable. Each leaf is fan-shaped, ofte

If you’ve ever wandered near a creek and caught a whiff of onion, congratulations—you’ve met onion weed (also known as three cornered garlic, Allium triquetrum). It doesn’t hide, flaunting its dainty white flowers. Come spring, it lines creeks and rivers like a floral runner, as if setting the stage for a magical woodland ceremony; a secret runway for forest nymphs. While pretty, the onion stench excludes them from a bouquet. My parents wage constant war against the stuff in