Intro to edible landscaping
CONTENT BY Aaron Parker, Edgewood Nursery
Know what you already have
Many plants in your existing landscape may be great edibles and you never noticed them or didn’t know they were edible. Here are some examples:
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
The whole plant is edible. My favorite part is the flowers. Highly nutritious.
Hosta (Hosta spp.)
Leaves, flowers, and green seed pods are edible. Spring shoots are excellent cooked like asparagus. The leaves get tough shortly after unfurling from the shoot.
Kousa dogwood (Cornus kousa)
Edible fruit. Oddly textured and variable in flavor from tree to tree. Needs experimentation.
Clover (Trifolium spp.)
Leaves and flowers are edible. Leaves are a bit on the tough side, but the flowers of red clover are quite palatable. Kids like to suck the nectar from individual florets.
Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
Edible shoots, flowers, and young pods. Needs to be cooked. Read up on details before eating, but easy to collect and delicious. Host plant for Monarch butterfly caterpillars and are a native species!
Violets (Viola spp.)
Edible leaves and flowers. The flowers add great color to salads. Several are native species!
Ornamental crab apples, pears, plums, and cherries
Most of these ornamental fruits are edible. If the flavor is good they can be good additions to fruit sauces and jellies. These trees can also have better fruit varieties grafted on them. Come to the MOFGA Seed and Scion Exchange in March for free classes and materials.
Oaks (Quercus spp.)
With a little home processing, acorns can be a delicious and highly nutritious staple food. Provides huge wildlife benefits. More info here and in this podcast. Native species and a powerhouse of wildlife habitat.
Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica)
Highly invasive (so please don’t plant or move it), but if it’s already there you might as well use it! Spring shoots are edible and can be good in many dishes. Roots are medicinal and there are some interesting developments in using this plant to make holistic sprays for protecting plants from disease and insect damage.
Grow things you will eat
It doesn’t matter how much edible plant material you can grow in your landscape if no one wants to eat it. So when considering what plants to add to your landscape start with things you know you like to eat and go from there. Trying new things is important, but a first try can hopefully come from someone else’s garden. Other considerations could be emergency food (when preferred foods are not available anything edible will do) and animal foods (growing food for your domestic animals provides many more options to have an edible landscape).
Choose a style for your landscape that fits your needs
Edible landscapes can range from naturalized to highly formal and everything in between. Every style choice affects what materials are needed, how much maintenance will be needed, and the aesthetics of the landscape. Generally speaking, the more formal the style the more work and off-site materials are needed.
Species ideas
This list focuses on perennial plants that require minimum special attention, have maximum production/food value, and are at the same time aesthetically pleasing. Not all species will be suitable for every site. Most of these plants are available from Edgewood Nursery, I will note other local suppliers when possible.
Trees and shrubs
Peaches* (Prunus persica)
Small tree. Not suitable for the colder parts of Maine, but in most of Maine, select cultivars will bear most years and ripen in plenty of time. Once you have had a tree-ripened peach, you may never accept a store-bought one. Fedco has several good options. Self-fruitful. Available at most nurseries. Brown rot is an issue.
American persimmon† (Diospyros virginiana)
These are not for colder areas of Maine and instead prefer a hot micro-climate anywhere in Maine. Grafted early ripening cultivars are best in Maine. Choose self-fertile cultivars or plant a male pollinator. They are disease and insect-resistant native trees with dark green foliage that bear soft, sweet fruit resembling a small tomato. Some cultivars will hold their fruit after the leaves fall, which makes a beautiful and tasty display. I recommend “Meader.” Large tree, but can be kept small with pruning. Protect graft union first/winter.
Mulberries (Morus spp.)
Very productive trees bear fruit somewhat like a seedless blackberry. Choose named cultivars for the best flavor. “Illinois Everbearing” is the standard cultivar for cold climates. Leaves are also edible. “Geraldi Dwarf” is a good choice for a dwarf variety.
American Plum*† (Prunus americana)
This small suckering tree produces a huge amount of white flowers in spring and is an excellent pollinator for hybrid plums. The fruit is small but delicious and is typically pretty disease-resistant, especially to brown rot, which can be a real problem in other plums. Suckers can be pruned off, or better yet, grafted onto creating a multi-cultivar or even multi-species thicket, grafts on suckers often are very vigorous and bear fruit in three years. Two are needed for cross-pollination. Available at most nurseries.
Paw Paw† (Asimina triloba)
Like persimmon, they prefer a hot micro-climate. Early ripening genetics (grafted or seedling) would be best. North America’s largest native fruit. It looks and tastes somewhat like a mango (although the flavor is variable and doesn’t taste like any other temperate fruit), but the texture is like an avocado. It is an insect, disease, and deer-resistant tree with a nice tropical look. Young trees need protection from sun scorch. These medium trees can be kept small with pruning. Two are needed for cross-pollination.
Hazel*† (Corylus spp.)
Hazels are a high-value crop that is productive and very quick to fruit (three years is not unusual). The main problem for American hazels is reasonably processing the nuts, for hybrids squirrel predation seems to be a big problem. Comes in shrub or tree form. Two are needed for cross-pollination.
Chestnuts*† (Castanea spp.)
Chestnut species can rival any species for their ability to produce a staple food, relatively easy to collect and process with high starch nut has a similar nutrient profile to corn. Pure American trees are prone to early death by disease, pure Chinese tend toward breakage in early snows, and Japanese hybrids seem to be the way to go, with a wide variety of types available to fit almost any need. Large trees. Two are needed for cross-pollination.
High-bush blueberries† (Vaccinium corymbosum)
These native fruits are familiar and fairly easy to grow. Their main challenge is their need for acidic soil. Pine needles and oak leaves will not make your soil acidic, if your PH is too high you need to amend your soil with sulfur. They like a lot of water but can do alright without it. If you don’t have acid soil and don’t want to amend for PH plant haskaps/honeyberries (Lonicera caerulea) instead. Available at most nurseries.
Raspberries and black raspberries† (Rubus spp.)
These cane fruits tend to spread, so they make a good plant to fill in odd corners and such. They don’t require much maintenance but do produce best with annual attention. The easiest management strategy is to plant somewhere that you can mow around them to control the suckers. Available at most nurseries.
Goumi (Elaeagnus multiflora)
This nitrogen-fixing shrub is a cousin of the autumn olive, but with larger, sweeter fruit that ripens in summer rather than fall. Multi-stemmed form with silvery leaves and almost metallic golden bark on new growth. While autumn olive can very invasive in some areas, Goumi doesn’t seem to spread by seed in New England.
Elderberries† (Sambucus spp.)
These elegant multi-stemmed shrubs have beautiful blooms in early summer changing into bunches of black berries in fall. Many varieties are available, including purple-leaved and variegated cultivars. The berries make excellent jams and syrups and are a well-respected anti-viral. Available at most nurseries. Two are needed for cross-pollination.
American basswood† (Tilia americana)
A native tree with good spring leaf production and a myriad of other uses including flowers used in medicinal teas and fibrous inner bark used for making cordage and chair seats and fruit that can be used to make a chocolaty drink.
Yellowhorn (Xanthoceras sorbifolium)
Small, often shrubby tree with finely cut pinnate foliage and beautiful white flowers with red centers. Edible high-fat nuts that taste like macadamia nuts. Semi-self-fertile. Plant two for better nut production.
Cornelian cherries (Cornus mas)
An edible fruited dogwood. This species only vaguely resembles a cherry, but has none of the problems of a cherry. Little to no pest or disease issues, easy to harvest by shaking onto a tarp. Easy to process using a food mill. Plant two cultivars for cross-pollination. Fedco and/or Sy’s trees are good local sources.
Herbaceous plants
Sea kale (Crambe maritima)
Edible shoots, leaves, buds, and green seed pods. Leaves are much like collard greens, seed pods taste like peas. Flowers are heavily scented like honey. Very pretty. Fedco carries seeds.
Hablitzia (Hablitzia tamnoides)
Highly productive vine grows in part-shade to full sun, producing edible shoots and leaves over a long season. Delicate leaves taste somewhat like spinach but with a milder flavor. Fresh or cooked. Fedco carries seeds.
Turkish rocket (Bunias orientalis)
Vigorous perennial with edible flower buds that taste much like broccoli-raab, leaves are also edible, but not so good as the buds. Whatever buds you don’t harvest turn into large sprays of bright yellow flowers that attract beneficial syrphid flies. Can spread easily, eat all the flowers to avoid self-seeding. Do not abandon.
Sorrel (Rumex acetosa)
Garden sorrel is a long-season perennial leaf crop with a distinctive sour lemony flavor. Easy to grow. Choose a non-flowering cultivar for the longest productive season. A close relative bloody dock is not as good to eat but is more ornamental.
Dystaenia (Dystaenia takesimana)
Vigorous perennial leaf crop that tastes a lot like celery. Rather long season, coming up as the snow melts it is available to harvest when almost nothing else is and then continues to produce through the summer with another big flush of growth in early fall. The leaves are highly nutritious with more total digestible nutrients than alfalfa. In mid-summer, it starts blooming with large white umbels that are very attractive to many beneficial insects, especially wasps.
Mouse garlic Alium angulosum
Similar in habit to garlic chives, but I like the flavor better and prefer the light purple blooms. Densely clumping perennial, needs nearly no care once established, and can be harvested pretty frequently without setting the plant back much. Allium cernuum is a similar, near-native species.
Lovage/Scots/Lovage† (Levisticum officinale/Ligusticum scoticum)
This once-common perennial is quite pretty, along with being very attractive to many beneficial insects and a highly flavorful addition to soups, stir-fries, and other savory dishes. Use in moderation, its flavor can overwhelm more subtle flavors. The native species L.scoticum is smaller with a more mild flavor, closer to parsley.
Stinging nettles/Wood Nettle† (Urtica dioica/Laportea canadensis)
While you might not think of a plant covered in tiny hypodermic needles full of irritating acid being good to eat, it is. The early spring leaves are the best, but anytime before the plant blooms, you can harvest leaves to eat, make tea, or dry them for later use. Cooking or drying deactivates the sting and very young plants don’t have the sting to begin with. One of the most nutrient-dense foods around. Spreads by rhizome, harvest heavily, and do not abandon.
Good King Henry (Blitum bonushenricus)
Classic British perennial veggie. Leaves are best cooked and somewhat resemble spinach. Flower buds and seeds are also edible and tasty. Produces a lot in full sun and good soil, but does fine in weak soil and/or part shade.
Bergamot† (Monarda fistulosa)
All the Monarda species are wonderful: beautiful, attractive to pollinators, and tasty as a tea or infused vinegar. They are smaller and less aggressive than some of the other species and are native to this area. They occasionally suffer from powdery mildew.
Sochan/Cut-leaf coneflower† (Rudbeckia laciniata)
A native perennial offering tasty leaves for humans and a bunch of foods for wildlife. The leaves are most tender in spring but remain edible through the season. 5’+ tall blooms resemble black-eyed susan. Strong colony former, so leave lots of space or harvest heavily.
Vines
Hardy kiwi* (Actinidia arguta and A. kolomikta)
These small fruits range from the size of a grape to about three times that size. They are in the same genus as the more familiar fuzzy kiwis and have a similar but more intense flavor. They are vigorous woody vines that require annual pruning. Both species are diecious, meaning that there are male and female plants. Both are needed to produce fruit, but only the female vine produces fruit. Arguta kiwis are larger and set more fruit, but the vines are so rampant they need a good strong trellis and should not be grown against a building. Kolomikta kiwis are smaller and less productive, but are more ornamental (often having three-color variegated leaves) and much easier to control. For most people, I recommend the kolomikta. Do not abandon.
Schisandra (Schisandra chinensis)
A beautiful vine with delicate white flowers and red leaf stems. Thrives in part shade, and tolerates full sun with adequate moisture. The bright red strings of berries are beautiful and are very flavorful, although not everyone likes the flavor. Highly regarded in herbal medicine. Has an odd pollination strategy, so plant at least three for proper pollination, the cultivar “eastern prince” is self-fertile and has larger, better fruit than seedlings. Fedco carries seedlings.
Grapes† (Vitis spp.)
While grapes are a little more prone to disease issues and less tolerant of shade than kiwis or schisandra, they are still a good option. Concord types, especially the cultivar “Beta” are the easiest in this climate. V. Labrusca is the preferred native option.
Extra Reference information
Reading
The Holistic Orchard: Tree Fruits and Berries the Biological Way by Michael Phillips, Details on growing fruit and the level of management described may be intimidating, but is only necessary if you have to have consistent harvests.
Gaia’s Garden by Toby Hemenway, A great introduction to permaculture. By mimicking nature in your landscape design you can create a low-maintenance system that works for you and the environment.
Around the World in 80 Plants by Stephan Barstow www.edimentals.com On paper or the internet, almost no one can match Stephan Barstow’s knowledge of edible ornamental plants.
Edible Forest Gardens by Dave Jacke, This is the book that first got me into the depths of edible landscape design, two massive tomes full of the most fascinating info and ideas.
Local Plants and Materials
Edgewood Nursery, www.edgewoodnursery.com 4 Cruston Way, Falmouth, ME. The nursery of Aaron Parker. He specializes in unusual edible plants and almost everything is grown on site without pesticides or non-compost fertilizers. He offers bare root plants, potted stock, seeds, cuttings, and tubers. Open Tuesdays 9am-5pm in the growing season or by appointment.
Fedco Trees, www.fedcoseeds.com/trees 213 Hinckley Rd., Clinton, ME. Order online in winter, the last call is typically in early March. Best source for woody landscape plants, especially fruit trees. Better quality, better selection, and better prices. Many are locally grown.
Fedco Seeds, www.fedcoseeds.com Order online. Best local source for seeds, with a great selection of annual veggies, but also the best selection of perennial veggies of any one place I know of.
Lucas Tree, www.lucastree.com 636 Riverside St, Portland, ME. If you want dyed wood chip mulch (commonly called “dark bark mulch”), this is my preferred source. I use plain wood chips whenever aesthetically acceptable, but if a client wants “dark bark mulch” this is the source I go to.
I prefer it for two reasons: 1 — it’s much cheaper than at a nursery and 2 — it is made from chipped tree pruning, rather than wood of indeterminate origin.
Wilshore Farms, 85 Hurricane Rd # R, Falmouth, ME, (207) 797-4287 Great compost at a reasonable price.
Many Town dumps/transfer stations provide free compost and/or mulch materials to residents.
Sy’s Trees, systrees@gmail.com, Sweden, Maine. Local nursery with an excellent selection of edible woody plants. Email for details and availability.
North Branch Farm, www.northbranchfarm.org Monroe, Maine. Nice nursery stock, often including cornus mas cultivars.