Nipped in the bud: Swetha Sivakumar on flowers as food

Most blooms aren't edible, but there are exceptions. Cloves, after all, are buds picked and dried just before they open. Certain vegetables are flower buds too.

I remember being nine months pregnant with my first child, and my mother gently coaxing me to take long walks.

I was exhausted and irritable. “How did patti (my grandmother) do this nine times!” I said. Indeed, childbirth is a long and challenging process. But wait till you hear about the hurdles plants face as they propagate.

The mere act of producing flowers can kill them. In less-than-ideal conditions, plants die soon after they reproduce, because they simply have no