Could you check your book for Rose of Sharon. Its a type of hibiscus and should be edible. My internet searches all turn up a copy and paste of the same blurb.
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it is totally edible, that is if you like okra/egyptian spinach, its cousins in the same gooey -vegie family. It is often used for aguas frescas(refresher drinks) in latin america. Petals can be eaten straight from the plants, and some hibiscus species also have edible young leaves used for salads.
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I have eaten both the flowers and leaves, these literally grow like weeds by me and pop up everywhere. Flowers are tasty, leaves are mostly flavorless with a pretty rough texture.
From the book:
Rose of Sharon, Hibiscus syriacus
• What it is: a small to medium-sized deciduous shrub, very floriferous
• Where to find it: gardens, parks • Edible parts: leaves, flowers
The Details
Rose of Sharon is a traditional and much-loved flowering shrub. It grows best in full sun but will tolerate part shade, although with less light it produces fewer blooms. Flowers may be single or double and come in white, pink, or purple-blue. Rose of Sharon leafs out late in the season and blooms at the end of summer. Once established, it can tolerate some drought. Young leaves are edible raw, as are its flower petals.
How to Harvest
If you need a few leaves for your salad, prune or pinch off the youngest leaves just above a node. The foliage doesn’t have a special taste, but it’s safe to eat and will fill up your salad bowl.
Sharon’s flowers are much more visually and texturally interesting than its foliage. Picked early in the day, before they’re fully open, the flowers will be crisp, fresh, and mild. Because Rose of Sharon produces so many flowers, you don’t have to worry about picking your shrub bare. There’ll be plenty to look at and to nibble. The large flowers make excellent vessels for soft cheese mixtures.
How to Eat It
Individual petals can be used whole or chopped in salads, cold soups, or gelatin molds. Since Rose of Sharon flowers are larger than many other edible flowers, they can be stuffed and served as hors d’oeuvres. Remove the pistils and stamens, leaving the petals in an open cup. In a blender, combine yogurt and cream or cottage cheese, then make it sweet (with honey, dried fruit, slivered almonds) or savory (with scallions, thyme, pine nuts), and drop a dollop into the center of each petal cup. Arranged on a platter, these stuffed flowers are an unusual, elegant offering for afternoon tea.
Since Rose of Sharon flowers are larger than many other edible flowers, they can be stuffed and served as hors d’oeuvres.
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For completeness, this is what the book says about daylillies:
Daylily
Hemerocallis fulva
• What it is: a perennial plant
• Where to find it: gardens, roadsides
• Edible parts: shoots, flower buds, flower petals, tubers
The Details
Daylilies may be the most popular garden perennials ever. Numerous clubs and societies are devoted to the plant, but most members only appreciate the daylily for its looks, not its gustatory potential. There are thousands of daylily cultivars, and while some of them may be edible, my comments here describe the common orange-flowered species. Also, I have read a few reports of people having allergic reactions to eating daylilies. I know of many more people allergic to seafood and strawberries, but if this is your first time eating daylilies, start small.
Daylilies benefit from division every few years, so when it’s time to divide, why not keep out a few pieces for the kitchen? And if you don’t want to dig up your own, take a walk around the neighborhood. Over time, daylilies have outgrown their garden boundaries, so it’s not unusual to find masses of this underappreciated edible plant growing wild in fields and along roadsides. Show the daylily some culinary love.
How to Harvest
As the name indicates, the flowers of daylily last for a day. After the bloom opens, but before it starts to fade, pick a few flowers and remove the pistils and stamens (the interior parts). The petals can be used individually or as a whole. Unopened buds can be harvested from the time they’re an inch long and entirely green, up until they’re 3 inches long and showing color.
Collect young shoots until they’re about 5 inches long; after that they tend to be fibrous. Snip them off right above the ground.
In fall or early spring, daylily tubers are plump and full of stored starches. Dig up a clump (or two) and remove up to two-thirds of the tubers, then replant the daylily. Clip the root hairs off the tubers, then clean them well. You’ll probably need to wash them in several changes of water.
Cook daylily tubers as you would fingerling potatoes.
How to Eat It
Mature daylily petals can be used dry or fresh. Crumble dry petals into rice or pasta to impart an orange-yellow color. Fresh petals add color to salads and, when kept whole (petals attached), make creative vessels for ice cream.
In Chinese cuisine daylily buds are an ingredient in classic hot and sour soup. You can add them raw to salads, where the crunch and taste are reminiscent of green beans. My favorite way to eat daylily
buds is lightly sautéed in olive oil with salt and pepper.
Daylily shoots make a crisp spring vegetable. If you believe the accounts that describe their taste as scallion-like, you’ll be disappointed. They are mild and crunchy but not particularly oniony. Still, they make a fresh side dish when lightly sautéed in olive oil or butter.
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The Drink Sorrel is made from Habiscus Sabdariffa pods. Those flower pods have an amazing amount of flavor you would think its juiced fruit. I don’t expect Sharon flowers to have that much flavor but I am going to harvest some and see what I can do with them.
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Excellent.
But I have a shelf of half-read garden books already…so I don’t think I’ll give into temptation…lol.
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I ate a couple rootlet tubers of some Stella d’Oro daylilies I dug up today…
tasted as good as a un-cooked Irish potato…no, actually better.
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Are the blossoms of Stella d’Oro safe to eat?
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Yes as long as you haven’t sprayed them with a pesticide or fungicide.
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Hope so…otherWise I died and came back as the same old person!
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Interesting observation, Chills.
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