Malva leaves, flowers, and seed pods (Malva neglecta)
This mallow is prostrate and so often overlooked. All parts of it are delicious in salads: leaves, flowers, and seeds. The seeds look like a little gouda cheese, thus giving the plant its common name: cheeses. All members of malva family are edible, including hibiscus, rose of Sharon (Northern hibiscus), hollyhocks, and the numerous cultivars that are available.

Carrot leaves (Daucus carota)
The scent of carrot is unmistakable in the leaves of wild carrot or Queen Anne’s lace, so we need not worry that we will mistake it for its poisonous sisters like hemlock. Richer in potassium than bananas, wild carrot leaflets are tasty in summer salads. (I don’t use the heavy midrib.) And, of course, when they bloom, the flowers go in my salads too.

Violet leaves (Viola species)
The violet leaves are big and glossy now and super rich in vitamins, especially the carotenes which are converted to vitamin A in the body. Violet is considered one of the best sources of vitamin A among the herbs. If you are drying leaves for infusion, now is the time to pick them. Violet leaf infusion used to be one of my mainstays, until the price got too pricey. It is a proven cancer preventative and curative in some cases.