Edible landscaping (flowers, mushrooms, growing plant, bugs)

[lifelongMOgal]

Has anyone landscaped around their home using fruit producing trees/shrubs, or greenery producing vegetables and herbs rather than using traditional ornamentals?

Are there any gardening websites for such landscaping plans?

Zone 4-5 here

Thanks!

[Va-Cat]

Originally Posted by lifelongMOgal

Has anyone landscaped around their home using fruit producing trees/shrubs, or greenery producing vegetables and herbs rather than using traditional ornamentals?

Are there any gardening websites for such landscaping plans?

Zone 4-5 here

Thanks!

When we were living in Georgia, I decided to use blueberry bushes as a hedge line, They have very pretty foliage and I envisioned all the muffins pies and pancakes I was going to be able to make wen the berries ripened. I forgot one thing....deer LOVE blueberry bushes! 3 months of being chewed down to nubs took care of my idea rather quickly. Crape myrtle was planted instead. I guess its one thing they won't eat.

[StealthRabbit]

I do lots of edible landscape (and have for over 30 yrs). Blueberries are the ez'st and prettiest and I have lots of deer but they don't bother my blueberries. (maybe I feed them enough roses to fill them up )

Electric fence and using old fluorescent light tubes running along the wire seem to be a good deterrent for deer and coons. At last house, I had about 50 varieties of apples in a high density planting (5'x3') no limbs over 30cm long. Bear LOTS of fruit (more sun, less shade) ez to care and pic. Herbs are good edible plants to grow (as well as mushrooms in my part of the woods).

Neighbors share stuff so we can each grow our favorites and still get plenty of other edibles.

I wish I liked eating grass, mowing 2x / week during the spring.

[hey teach]

I have yellow squash and green beans in my front flower beds. The squash makes a nice green foliage with yellow blooms that turn into lovely yellow squash that my family loves. The green beans are on a trellis which replaced a bush that died. The beans simply look like a vine from the street.

[suedonym]

i use japanese purple shiso (which is kind of like a japanese basil) that hubby uses a lot of. reseeds like crazy though, so be careful LOL. gets pretty tall 3-4'? maybe taller and bushes out some when its happy and well watered. likes lots of sun and warmth (much like regular basil)... ive also used pepper (jalepeno/ habernero and the ornamental, which is edible) plants. we dont use them much but my grandpa like them so we plant them for him. lol


regular basil is pretty and ive used that... lavender (i dont use it to cook with but some do or make sachets and potpourris and stuff)

I'm in zone 7, so not sure how some of this will work for you, but its stuff we like...

[lifelongMOgal]

My goal is to surround the house with edible landscaping instead of traditional ornamental trees and shrubbery. So, what is planted needs to be hardy to make it through the freezing temps. in winter and extreme heat in the summer.

The North side of the house is heavily shaded, West side part sun to dappled shade in the summer with full sun in the winter, South side no shade and gets quite significant heat radiation of the house siding, East side is sun to noon and then shade.

Would a fruit tree such as a cherry, plum, or peach be able to stand the heat reflected off the house on the South side in both summer and winter or is scorching going to be a problem?

What edibles do well enough in shade to survive heavy shading on the North side?

Thanks!

[kinkytoes]

I made edibility one of my Major Gardening Goals for the new house. I've only been working on the gardens for two years now, but the edibles that worked so far include:

1. Daylilies - The buds, shoots and roots are edible. I've eaten the shoots for the past two springs. I have mountains of the big orange daylilies. I haven't eaten my hybrid daylilies, though.

2. Bulbs - Several lilium bulbs are supposed to be edible. I'm prevented from growing lilium henryi because I have acidic soil, but I have tiger lilies and a variety of asiatic and oriental lilies. I wouldn't recommend eating them, but if there's a zombie apocalypse...I may give them a try.

I also read tulips are edible if you remove the toxic part and prepare them properly, so I bought a pooload of them. Complete waste of money as they are not reliably perennial in most of the US. Grr.

I have DEFINITELY edible CAMASSIA/Quamash bulbs... Pretty blue star-shaped flowers in spring. Eaten by our native Americans. Apparently they taste like chestnuts. I may try a couple.

In my quest for edibleness, I have learned a lot about toxic and edible bulbs, and I'm trying to get rid of or localize the toxic ones on my property such as siberian squill, crow poison, daffodils, hyacinth, crocus etc. I still consider wild garlic and onion weeds...but if you can identify them properly, they'e also edible...but not very ornamental.

I have a couple of tassel grape hyacinth. I must say the flowers are pretty, but I'm not sure how well they'll do in the long term. Unlike the pictures, the flowers looked like floppy light purple feather dusters.

3. Fruit and Nuts - I have apple trees, filberts, pawpaws, peaches, cherries, serviceberry, American persimmon and asian pears. I think non-native fruit trees only produce for a certain number of years in general... Trees such as peaches and cherries, I believe need well-drained soil and full sun. That's not always easy on my property, so I am happy that the native trees require less sun.

Protecting the fruit from animals and bugs can be a chore, but the spring blossoms are beautiful. My goal was to get some more nut trees this year. I'm still deciding...so perhaps in the Autumn. I also like the idea about planting more apple trees. Mine right now only produced some sad-looking stunted, worm-eaten apples LOL.

4. Edibles for Shade - Hostas are edible and like daylilies, are eaten in Asia. Honestly, I haven't tried the hostas, either...yet another standby for the zombie apocalypse. LOL There are too many hosta hybrids if you ask me. Some of them look downright strange.

The fiddleheads of certain ferns are edible. Currently, my ferns are just pretty plants... I'm going to continue to plant ferns each year until the woods are full of them. Moo ha ha. My favorites are ostrich ferns, since I like BIG things and one day I'd love my yard to look like Jurassic Park. The only problem may be my soil PH... Fingers crossed because I'm planting more BIG ferns in the yard this Autumn. God willing...

5. Berries - I have blueberries in my flowerbeds, and they're OK so far. The deer seem to only bother things that I plant close to the woods. I thank the hunters nearby for keeping their numbers in check. I got a couple of the new "pink lemonade" blueberry this year. I also have pair of cold-hardy kiwi, as well as some blackberries. After 2 years, the kiwi are long and going crazy but no fruit or flowers to speak of.

I have a grape vine that grows very large and climbs up a trellis. It came with the property. No grapes to speak of, but it's very pretty. There's a restaurant in washington DC that has an outdoor patio with a big overhead arbor covered in grape vines. It is absolutly beautiful, and theirs DID have grapes on it.

6. Edible Flowers - Monarda AKA wild bergamot is native to my area, and comes in a variety of reds and pinks. You can make tea out of the leaves. I only planted mine this spring, so no flowers yet.

I also planted nasturtiums and marigolds the past couple of years. I did put some yellow marigold leaves in soup, and I'm not dead. I also ate some daylily buds in soup. I tried the nasturitums, but to me they taste disgusting. Honestly, I plant the nasturtiums and marigolds mainly to deter pests from my vegetables.

7. Awesome Ornamental Herbs - I had my marjoram in a pot outside for years, now it's outside in the real soil on a south-facing wall. I'd recommend it as a petty, perennial herb. It has white flowers and would be nice at the front of a border, I think.

The THYME I planted is ROCKIN. It just flowered and is extremely happy in my slope garden and mixed borders. Also, a low growing plant which is a beauty in a well-drained garden.

The perennial sage also looks wonderful. Mine have pretty purple flowers. I'm not sure why they don't sell these as ornamentals. Delicous to eat, you can dry or freeze them, and they make wonderful garden plants.
I planted the thyme and sage from seed and it did take a little to get them going. After they got big enough, I transplanted them to other beds. One packet of seeds from B&^%ee produced quite a few plants, and I have several to spread to sunny spots in the yard.

I wish you a lot of luck with the edible garden.

[lifelongMOgal]

Great information kinkytoes, thank you!

I had no idea that daylilies, ferns, or hosta were edible. For some reason I thought daylilies were toxic, or is that just for animals? (I have dogs)

[kinkytoes]

No Problem MOGal, ornamental edibles are one of my favorite subjects, so I'm ECSTATIC that you posted the thread.

I think daylilies may be toxic only to cats. The US department of agriculture has posted an interesting research paper about eating daylilies (hemerocalis):
ARS | Publication request: Consumer Preferences for Edible Daylillies

[lifelongMOgal]

Originally Posted by kinkytoes

No Problem MOGal, ornamental edibles are one of my favorite subjects, so I'm ECSTATIC that you posted the thread.

I think daylilies may be toxic only to cats. The US department of agriculture has posted an interesting research paper about eating daylilies (hemerocalis):
ARS | Publication request: Consumer Preferences for Edible Daylillies

I had foundation work done around the house and have not re-landscaped. So, I thought as long as I had to spend the money, it may as well be in landscaping which will provide a return at the table instead of just the same old plants I see in everyone's yard (and have had myself before) that require care with little beneficial return other than aesthetics.

Thanks for the link! I hope others will chime in too.