Exciting Salad for all your Senses!!!

Salad made with  gathered Red Bud Blossoms, Viola blossom, a couple Dandelion blooms, homemade feta cheese, plus your lettuce salad fixings. It will be so nice to have these in the garden soon, or at the farmers market.

Mike and I just found out that the beautiful red bud blossoms are not only beautiful to see on the tree but are also beautiful in a salad like  pansies and violas.  Yes they are edible also.  

So after helping our friends in West Virginia plant a swale with many fruit trees and nitrogen fixing plants, Mike and I gathered some extra fixings, redbud blossoms and violas for a beautiful salad that Paula created.
I am so excited in finding out what other things we can forage for and it was so easy. 
Red Buds has a very mild flavor but beautiful flavor for the eyes!!!  Later we will check out their bods to see how they taste.
Mike also put in a couple of dandelion blossoms in the salad. Personally I didn't care for them.
Also included in the salad is Mara's home made feta cheese!!  I am so glad she was able to take our Dairy Culture class to get the basic of cheese making so she has the confidence to experiment and make more for her home.  She is making so much wonderful cheese and is really enjoying it.   I am looking for a date for another class the first part of June.  So watch for that date.  If you want a class at your location contact me. 

Hardiness Zones: 4 to 9
Height: 30 ft
Spread: 25 ft
Form: rounded
Type: deciduous tree
Annual Growth Rate: 12 to 18 inches
Light: Full sun to shade
Moisture: Grows better in moist soil
Flowers: Purplish-pink
A nitrogen fixing tree with edible flowers in the spring and then look for the edible pods shortly after.

The Redbud tree is a relatively small tree with spreading branches and a small short trunk. The Redbud is a poplar ornamental tree, which can be found in many gardens and streetscapes. The tree is one of the earliest flowering trees and is often used to add color to gardens and your plate!!

The purple pink flowers of the eastern redbud appear all over the tree in early spring. The flowers are even produced on large trunks. Redbud has a yellow fall color and is shade tolerant. 

The Redbud grows throughout much of the eastern United States and extends as far west as Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.