What interests us, besides their freshness and beauty, is that many of these flowers have healing qualities. Some even grown in our gardens and may appear on your salad in the Cabot Shores’ Bistro.
Spring flowers at Cabot Shores have a lot of variety and rapidly appear after the snow melts. Many of the flowers you can see throughout Cape Breton and discover through the rest of Nova Scotia, but some we’ve only seen at Cabot Shores.
Early Flowers of Spring
Violets
Violets are among the first seen along the Indian Brook Loop trail and around Cabot Shores.
Both flowers and young leaves are edible. The leaves are high in vitamin C, and the flowers look pretty when added to salads.
Blue-bead Lilly
These plants appear early in spring in the woods. Young leaves are edible and the plant’s rhizomes
contain an estrogen-like compound.
Lonicera Canadensis (Canada Fly Honeysuckle)
This endangered bush grows in the forest. It typically flowers in early spring and produces a small fruit in July that is consumed by birds.
Berries Coming from Flowers
Serviceberry Trees
This small tree produces clusters of delicate white flowers that produce edible, blueberry-like red berries in July.
Sambucus Racemosa
Also called Red Elderberry, this shrub produces clusters of star-shaped white flowers that, when closed, look purple. The red berries are edible when cooked.
Fragaria
These wild strawberries grow along the river in a sunny, protected spot. By June, they produce sweet berries that the squirrels usually get before we do.
A local fisherman says to watch out for the blooming of wild strawberries. When they appear, it’s time to get out the fishing rod and go for trout (with a license, you can fish nearby along Indian Brook, on the beach off Church Pond, along the Bearchois, and in the Cape Breton Highlands, near Wreck Cove).
Medicinal Applications
Wild Sarsaparilla–
Wild Sarsaparilla likes to grow in woodsy areas all over eastern North America. The roots are used medicinally to treat joint pain, skin conditions, and to support liver health and hormonal balance.
Lowbush Blueberry
Lowbush blueberries are common in eastern Canada. Fun to pick, full of antioxidants, each one a burst of flavour.
Canadian Maylily
This small plant, related to lilies, prefers to grow in shaded areas. It produces a small collection of tiny white flowers. It is consumed by lactating deer because of its high calcium content.
Dandelion
When picked in early spring, the tender greens can be added to salads or sautéed in olive oil and garlic.
Sources:
- Edible Plants of Atlantic Canada, by Peter J.Scott
- Wildflowers of Nova Scotia by Todd Boland
- Wild Plants of Eastern Canada by Marilyn Walker
- Wikipedia