Feeding Flowers

With summer time upon us and all the many things in bloom, I thought it would be a good time to discuss the feeding of flowers.

Do you do so? If so, which ones and where do you get them?

Many flowers are safe for gliders. If you use those from your own garden, then the same rules apply as with branches - no pesticides or treatments to the plant.

I have seen so many great photos of people feeding their gliders flowers or using them for enrichment, and I hope that we get to hear from many people as this can be a great teaching thread.


As for my babies, I have given them fresh hibiscus, marigold, dandelions, squash blossom, rose and honeysuckle.

I also regularly (all year) feed dried pink rose buds from the health food store.

This can be a fun way to provide enrichment and food to your babies. I always use the flowers in addition to my regular diet.

For those who want more information, here is one site with lots of edible flower info: http://whatscookingamerica.net/EdibleFlowers/EdibleFlowersMain.htm

I feed Apple blossoms and sticks, Rose of Sharon, Flowering crab Apple, Rose flowers. What ever I can get to grow in my yard that is safe. I use no spray's but the bad thing is I have black thumbs and not a lot grows.

I am very interested in any sites people have for ordering flowers that are safe.

Ordering edible flowers online can be quite pricey, but here is one site:
http://www.marxfoods.com/products/Edible-Fresh-Flowers

When I was in Michigan, I got edible flowers at the farmer's market and at specialty fruit markets.

My gliders get fresh hibiscus flowers out of my back yard. They looooove them.

My gliders used to get flowers out of my yard, hibiscus and roses. They will again next year. Once the plants are sure to be safe. I can, sometimes, get edible flowers from the organic section of one of our larger grocery stores. Those are marigolds and such. They LOVE them, no matter where they come from.

So say you are feeding Marigolds do you just pop the heads off and give the whole thing to them with the base that holds it together and normally a few green type leaves.

I am going to Whole Foods this weekend and will see what they have.

The ones I get from the store don't have any green on them. But when I feed roses/hibiscus from home, I give them the whole thing.

My girls really loved the pumpkin flower I gave them. I intend to try out rose, hibiscus, bottle brush, marigold, dandelions, yucca and cactus flowers during this season.

I would love to be able to give them fresh eucalyptus flowers though.

I have thought about offering dried flowers from the store like roses, lavender, chamomile, and jasmine which I think are for tea making.

They are really taking an interest in the cactus flowers!! Super cool! They are shoving their heads in them and licking at the pollen!

Photo's of this please!!

I will have to do it again so I can post pictures.

All this info was just what I was looking for! I want to start offering flowers and branches, but wasn't sure where to start. One question...if I choose to give my gliders apple branches now (in the fall) and the leaves are turning brown anyway, should I just take them off and just give them sticks? I can't wait to go looking for dried flowers! And next garden season they will be getting all sorts of blossoms!

Yay! And I even found kibble info...this has been a very informative morning so far!

Bobbie

Vicious (sorry your name isn't in your signature)
I would love to see pics of this. Actually would love to see your cactus because my neighbor has a cactus plants. Look like prickly pear but I can't tell. She doesn't know either, it was there before she bought her house.
What kind do you have? Are the flowers yellow?

Just found some edible flowers (marigolds) and squash blossoms (USDA organic certified) at Central Market and can't wait for tonight ;) My babies have never had anything like this, so I'm excited to see how they react!

My gliders LOVE apple blossoms! I gave them the branch with flowers on it. They do not like lilacs, tho. Our garden didn't do very well this year, so I didn't have squash blossoms to offer them. Maybe next year. Let us know how they liked them!

Sure will! I am only feeding them the tips of the squash blossoms because they have a sort of spine on them. These are meant for eating but I worry about them getting a thorn in their paw or mouth. Have you ever seen this?

I do recall that the squash vines are a bit prickly, so it makes sense that the base of the flower would be as well. I would cut that part off, too  

Love th squash blossom tips....didn't eat the marigolds but had a fun time destroying them ;)

Nice! I think that having fun tearing the marigolds apart is perfect!  

Anything new to do, is good for them :)

The cool thing is, it's all new to them. They are rescues that lived in a small breeder cage and survived off of apples and pellets. For some reason, they are crazy about peas. I want to watch the calcium to phosphorous ratio on that one though. They are all so sweet. I got so lucky!

Sounds like they got lucky, too  

Glad they like the flowers it is fun to watch them attack them.

There are lots of flowers out there if you can find ones that are not sprayed with anything. When in season here we have Rose of Sharon, apple and several others we give. They love them. I am planting Sqaush next year.

Can they have cucumber flowers and Lilac Blooms? Can not say I will share too many cucumber flowers but I can plant an extra plant next year!

Thanks Bobbie :) Its a win-win situation! I do know that they can have Lilac...there is a great link in here to Glider-safe plants and flowers. BCChins- I guess I am going to have to start growing my own, as Central Market only has marigolds and squash blossoms for edible flowers. I just don't trust that anything is pesticide free unless it comes from a friend's home or my own. Time for me to start planting!!! These babies are going to be so spoiled :)