Fruit trees provide shade, their flowers attract pollinators, and the fruit fills our bellies.
Everybody loves to spend time outdoors, especially in a beautifully landscaped yard. We tend to segregate our plantings, though. We plant an herb garden here, a vegetable garden there, a perennial flower border somewhere else, but there are lots of ways to include more food plants into all of our landscape, a technique called edible landscaping. Many of our food plants give us shade, seasonal interest, flowers, and a lot more. As an example, here’s my list for “The Top 10 Plants For Edible Landscaping”. You’ll notice that not all of these plants actually provide food. However, they do make it easier for you to grow more food with less fertilizer and pesticides. So, here’s the list.
Pecan trees - shade, food.
Apple/pear trees – shade, flowers, food.
Rabbit eye Blueberries – seasonal color, food.
Muscadine grapes – shade, screening, fall color, food.
Strawberries (perennial matted-row culture) – groundcover, food.
Fig trees – structure, winter interest, food.
Living Garden plants:
Aromatic herbs – beneficials, foundation planting (some), seasonal interest, food.
Daisy flowered plants – beneficials, aroma, flowers, beds/borders.
Umbrella-flowered plants – beneficials, aroma, flowers, beds/borders, food (some).
Nectar plants – beneficials, aroma, flowers, beds/borders.
“Beetle banks” ornamental grasses – beneficials, seasonal interest, beds/borders.
Perennial vegetables:
Asparagus
Perennial onions
Pole beans – food, seasonal screening, soil improvement, some color.
Clover/buckwheat/vetch & other covers – soil building, ground covers, flowers, seasonal interest.
Honorable mention:
Blackberries – food, seasonal interest, screening, security.
Malabar spinach – seasonal interest, color, screening, food.
Persimmon trees – seasonal color, understory, food.
Pomegranate trees – seasonal color, understory, food.
Sunchokes (a perennial sunflower) - flowers, beds/borders, beneficials, seasonal screens, food.
Cover crops feed the soil, attract beneficial insects, and look pretty, too!
If you want to know more about these great plants, come join me for the next Successful Gardener class at Renfrow Farm.
Edible Landscapes, Tuesday, October 9, 6:30-8:30 PM
Renfrow Farm, 409 W Charles Street, Matthews, NC
We tend to look at our food crops through a single purpose lens. How much food will this plant yield? But many of our fruits and vegetables look great in the garden! Come learn how to add these plants to our landscapes. We’ll feed our souls beautiful gardens while we feed our bodies good food. Details and registration here.
Remember to enjoy your garden, because THAT’S what makes you a Successful Gardener!!!