Orchid

Nothing in the game's crafting asks for it. No tea, no pie and no recipe in our data lists the orchid as an ingredient, and its own text only says it smells nice. Take that at face value: it is a flower.

The pretty part is the living plant. An orchid in bloom in a planter by the door makes a base look looked after, and that is the one job it does well. Once you pick it, the bloom turns into an item that just sits in a box.

Picked ones still have a use. Toss them into the composter with the rest of the farm scraps and they come back as fertilizer for the beds that actually feed you.

If you want flowers around the base, start from the orchid seeds that drop when you pick a wild one, and keep a clone of the plant you like best. Everything you can eat sits elsewhere under Food.