Edible Landscaping

I have been migrating my landscape design Tastes over to shrubs and plants which produce edible berries, nuts, fruit, etc. Anyone else out there doing something similar?

Aside from numerous herbs and annual vegetables, my beds currently include peach, red & black currant, gooseberry, elderberry, blueberry, hardy kiwi, blackberry, strawberry, and grape, but I hope to plant hazlenut and other nuts this year. I also grow several fig trees in containers, for the time being.

Are there any "edible landscapes" that you have fallen in love with care to share? I was blown away by the (now closed) Paradise Nursery plantings in Virginia Beach -- they had the most incredible-edible design, which included lots of fig trees, persimmons, pawpaws and tons of other trees & shrubs.

My only edibles that have produced (other than veggies in the EBs) are fig trees (from Paradise), but I have planted blackberries, strawberries, pluots, apricots, blueberries,quince,hops, jujubes, & I have some pawpaws coming this spring. I'd love to figure out how to squeeze other edible plants in my small yard, which has quite a few mature trees-I'm debating if I should remove a few large maples (the roots have totally overrun the yard), to plant some other things...I also have quite a few small Japanese maples, that will need a permanent home soon...

Oh my, Thistle, your "yard" sounds Delicious! Sounds like we're in the same boat with the small yard and mature trees. In my case, it's four mature Oak trees on less than a 1/4 acre, so sun is at a premium.

I aspire to growing all of those plants/trees of yours!

This message was edited Feb 28, 2008 9:24 PM

Thistle, do you have any interest in espalier? That's a great method for getting more out of a small piece of land.

Wrightie, this place is in Ruby's neck of the woods. You might want to make a trip there.
http://www.ediblelandscaping.com/

There are some really pretty vegetables that look fine in flower beds. Swiss chard is gorgeous, especially the mixed colors like Bright lights. Even regular beets have pretty foliage with red veins. There are some really pretty mustards and other greens too, many with burgundy or red foliage. Check out dinosaur kale. I think it's so pretty and has such a pretty color - very dark green with a tint of blue.

Okra is a pretty plant with nice flowers. Must be in the hibiscus family because the flowers look so similar. Scarlet runner beans also have a very pretty flower.

Cardoon is pretty but probably too big for small gardens. Cool looking foliage and gorgeous flowers and you can eat the stems. Make sure to deadhead if you don't want it growing everywhere.

There are a lot of herbs that look nice in flower beds but most of them like it too dry for most flowers. Basil is an exception and there are most are pretty.

I have peaches and pears in my orchard, grapes growing on the pergola. My fig tree never bears fruit because the season is too short for it here but the one I had when I lived in zone 7 did. I don't care, I think fig trees are gorgeous. There are wild grapes growing on the back fence and wild blueberries and blackberries here too but the birds usually beat me to the fruit.

I guess I could get pawpaws in the forest but I never cared for the flavor. Kind of bland.

I had thought about growing some of the hardy kiwis. They're pretty but it sure does take a long time to get fruit, doesn't it?

Oh, yes, we have a great crop of black walnuts every year. Not a tree I recommend, though, unless you like having something in the yard that kills half your plants.

Thanks Hart, I didn't realize that they were near Ruby.

My Kiwi has been in the ground for about three years now and no fruit yet. I have no idea how long it normally takes though.

Black Walnuts, No Thank You! lol

BLueberries- great return for the labor IMO,but the worst for birds eating them too. , strawberries, raspberries, small veg garden. So not that much really. I like Swiss chard but how decorative is it when you harvest and have those stubs there? As long as I have room that I have now, I will keep veg in one spot because it makes more sense management- wise, to me. (But now you have me rethinking myself)

My edibles I feel have issues as far as landscaping, in being unattractive at times Hmm, so do my iris...daffs...Dangit, there I go thinking again!...

Wrightie, I'm planning to attempt Edamame this year. Total experimentation.

Cool - soybeans are grown as crops in MD, so I'd imagine that you'd be fine with them, Miata. Remind me to tell you how my favorite tea house in Taiwan used to prepare them -- yum yum. You'll need star anise, sesame oil, and Ch. 5 spice ...

Sally, I grow my chard in my big vegetable garden, but I grow enough that most of the time I'm just picking leaves off the outside and they still look pretty. They regrow the leaves very fast too. You can do the same with pretty leaf lettuces too and mustard, kale, if you grow enough plants, but the mustard and kale doesn't regrow as fast as the lettuce and chard.

I thought I read that kiwi takes seven years to start bearing fruit. I'm not that patient. LOL

Wrightie, if you're ever in Manassas, there's a huge grocery store on Sudley Road that is half latino, half oriental. You'd go wild in the oriental section. They have every kind of spice, fresh produce, seafood and canned good for oriental cooking you can imagine. Lots of things you'd never find even in a gourmet grocery and from all over - China, Japan, Thailand, etc. Their prices are low, too.

Yummy Yumm Yumm. There are some really good Asian & Hispanic groceries in the Rockville & Silver Spring areas, not far from me - sounds similar to what you describe, Hart.

I am always on the lookout for a Chinese vegetable called Kong Syin Tsai - It's similar to spinach. I hope to one day find seeds for it and grow my own as it's impossible to find fresh.

This place is humongous, way bigger than any similar stores I've seen. It's in a huge, old regular grocery store - it was a Sav-a-Center years ago. It would probably take hours to go through all they have.

I did a search and apparently nobody spells this like you do, or like anybody else does. LOL Google spelled it Kong shan tsai and others spelled it Kong sin choy.

If it's this stuff, it's listed as a US noxious weed and shouldn't be grown here. But the states listed are much warmer than here and I don't know if that's across the US or just in the warmer zones.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1263/
Lots of seeds for oriental vegetables:
http://www.evergreenseeds.com/asveglis.html
http://www.kitazawaseed.com/

There are numerous Chinese dialects and several romanization methods as well, so I spelled it based on the system that I was taught while studying Mandarin. If not mistaken, Tsai (Mandarin dialect) is the same word as Choy (Cantonese dialect). I would know the plant if I saw it. I've looked for it in the past, but it's likely been at least a year or more by now -- I'll go check those links, thanks.

Is anyone around here growing native hazlenuts by any chance?

I did a search on the literal translation of the plant, "hollow heart vegetable" and got this:

http://jenyu.net/blog/2007/10/23/a-hollow-heart/

What the heck? Half of my post didn't come through.

I also wrote that stir frying the kong syin tsai in a little oil, some fresh garlic and a bit of salt is HEAVEN.

Wikipedia's entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipomoea_aquatica

This message was edited Feb 29, 2008 7:49 PM

Every time I read posts about edible landscaping, I am sick with envy. I'd give anything to plant the plants you mention, but I have too much shade. I put in blueberries many many years ago, but in an especially shady spot and they just sit there.

I did focus on raspberries and strawberries and figs last years, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Happy, we had a very shady garden in Orlando (zone 9) with big live oak trees we had planted 20 years earlier when we first moved in. We had an arborist limb them up because they were beginning to overhang the roof and moss and lichens were growing on the cedar shingles. I couldn't believe what a difference the limbing up made.

Thanks Pam. We're in a fairly urban neighborhood with huge very old trees, so while limbing up helps, it won't produce enough change to grow tomatoes, etc.

We have a shady grove of a plot, also, but I love berries so I have planted as many types as I can fit into areas that can sustain their growth. I have multiple types of blueberries--they tolerate some shade. I was told that pollination is better when you plant different varieties. I have Patriot Blue and Jersey Blue, and a couple of others I forget what they are. Th birds do brake for these, and this year we will have to put up a cage over them as soon as they brgin to flower because the birds got the berries even when they were still green.

I have three types of raspberries--Fall gold, Tulamen red and Heritage red. Crops have increased over time. Blackberries--these are bird targets, as well and have been hard to come by. . They need a lot of even watering to get juicy berries. They take all summer to produce ripe berries in mid to late August. And I have a slope full of June-bearing strawberries. We keep getting more and more each year. Hutch keeps an eye on those for me. These strawberries come and go quickly.

This year, I wanted to plant asparagus-mainly for the tender separs to eat. They look like an ornmental grass in the fall.

Other edibles I wish to try: a grove of filberts (hazelnuts), a Juneberry tree, a cherry tree, and a Wolfberry bush. I love Boysenberry also, but am not sure I can actually grow all of these in my yard. We will see. .

By the end of the summer I hope to have strawberry plants, blueberry plants, blackberry plants, and kiwi.. Not sure what else.. :) I will have my garden too.....

Hey, I've never even heard of Juneberry and Wolfberry, so I'll have to look them up -- thanks for mentioning them FnFF!

Juneberry is a small tree, maybe a little smaller or as tall as an average dogwood. It has nice spring flowers. A Wolfberry is a shrub about 8 feet or so, as big as some beautyberries or hollies. A Wolfberry is supposed to be highly nutritious fruit used in the Orient, and I think it is somewhat like Elderberry, but I haven't tasted a Wolfberry for a long time so -can't really compare here.

Redbud flowers are said to be edible. They are not said to be tasty. I tried them. =^P

Huh. Never heard that one before. They sure are pretty though!

Nasturtiums are great trailing plants (annual) and look good in hanging baskets. If you want some vertical landscape vignettes, these work. You'd want the flowers for salads and such. I like the leaves, too, they taste like radishes in a way, but much milder and leafy, as opposed to crunchy radish starchiness.

I never heard that redbud flowers were edible. If they taste lousy, it's probably a hard sell. LOL!! The flowers are dreamy reddish-purple in Spring!! I love those!! Wish I had one.

I grow nasturtiums every year. Last year's fave was the Cherry Jewel that I think Miata has on her list. They are more delicate than other nasties...

Boy- my Jewel Mix nasturtiums leaves were so peppery I couldn't eat them I save them for eye=feasting, like the redbuds

Love those nasturtium leaves and the little seed pods that swell up like capers after the flowers fade. I have seed for the jewel mix and Empress of India that I am starting today. They taste so healthy. I tried June berrys (also known as Serviceberry or Sarvisberry). They weren't great, but the birds love them. Another thing I tried in the wild were paw paws. I had read about them for years, that they were a cross between banana pudding and custard. Well, not quite, but interesting. Some people would have to get past the mouth feel, which I can only describe as gooshy. You have to get them when they are good and ripe, otherwise they are like persimmons, and make your tongue curl up.

Someone offered me pawpaws but I read that they don't transplant from the wild easily.

Sally, I've also heard that you need two to get fruit.

From Wiki
"The flowers are self-incompatible, requiring cross pollination; at least two different varieties of the plant are needed as pollenizers."

Thanks- so if one wanted them, really should get commercially.

The problem for a mature gal like myself is they don't begin fruiting until they're seven years old, so I'll probably have to keep getting them from the wild.

I really want to add some PawPaws to the treeline in back... some of the cultivated varieties are supposed to have larger/tastier fruit, too. A big plus even before they start producing fruit is that they're a host plant for one of our local butterflies... oh darn, now I can't remember which one, but I think it was one of the swallowtails?

Looked it up -- Zebra Swallowtail. Who wouldn't want those in the garden? :-)

Jill, We had zebra swallowtails (both yellow and white) in FL and there they spent all their time at the red pentas, since I didn't have any paw paws in my landscape. The zebras fly slowly and spend a lot of time going over each individual tubular flower. I would love to have one of the new paw paws, and I'm going to look for penta, the large ones rather than the dwarf ones. I'm trying to reset my head for plants that will bring butterflies here in z7. Oh, aside from paw paws, I just bought a fig tree (celeste) in a pot the other day. I couldn't help myself. I kept remembering the brown turkey fig I had in Orlando. It looked ancient, with its gnarled branches, lichens, and spanish moss, but it was only twenty years old.

I've got a little fig tree in a sheltered spot at the side of the house! I think it's 'Celeste', too. :-)

Jill, Have you had figs from your tree? I can't remember how old mine was when it started producing. The only fig I'd ever had was inside a fig newton. I didn't think I would like them, but yum, what an indulgence! It occurs to me that I am spending a lot of time on DG. I was here this morning and here I am again. Well, DH is watching the Bay Hill golf match, so I'm keeping him company. I'm just not watching the golf.

It made a fig toward the end of last year, but it didn't ripen before frost... maybe this year! :-) I've only had it a couple of years, and the first year it got eaten by bunnies, maybe by the woodchuck. grrr.

My Celestes and Conadrias (fig trees) were two or three years old when I bought them a year ago and they both fruited fairly heavily (per their size) last Summer. I had to net them to keep the squirrels away.

The A.A. Co Farm Center has fig trees that they say will produce this year. They also have blueberries and a ton of other stuff.. I was blowing money there last weekend.

Where is that located?

Glen Burnie, MD...
155 8th Ave, N.
Glen Burnie, MD 21061

They are only opened until 6