If anyone finds a local supply of pineapply guavas or goumi then please let me know. Otherwise, I'm looking at ordering them from forestfarm.
Edible landscaping
Very interesting thread Jujube.
Good to know...as long as they would have a good chance to survive if covered by blankets or something for major freezes, I could grow them.
I called around and both Calloways in Southlake and North Haven Gardens in Dallas will carry pineapple guava later in the spring. The woman from Calloways said that she has one in her backyard and she loves it.
I know its way early to start planning for the spring RU, but does anyone have any passiflora incarnata that they would like to trade to me? Just making sure I can get everything I want for my new edible garden. :)
I have Passiflora incarnata and I will reserve one for you Dennis.
Josephine.
I planted one last fall and have my fingers crossed it will come up. Got it from the Arlington wild flower sale. What do the fruits taste like?
C
Passiflora incarnata is considered invasive by many; http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1189/
Ken, I never had a problem with it.
The fruits aren't much, mainly seeds.
Like Nandina, the Passiflora incarnata pops up in this area where you least expect it. I am sure it is due to the plethora of seed and the birds no doubt help spread it. It is hard to be offended by it as it is so pretty. I have tasted the fruits and they are a bit tart. Not sure if the old timers fixed them in any special manner or only ate them raw. They used to be considered more of medicinal and herbal benefit than a food source.
I am a little afraid of truely invasive plants but will try this native and see what happens. I had to rid the yard of both nandina and tall mex. petunia and it was not easy!
C
I just found two more interesting sounding shrubs with edible berries on the Hidden Springs Nursery website (http://www.hiddenspringsnursery.com/).
Does anyone have any experience with Aronia or Azarole?
Aronia is more of a cold weather berry that is very tart and is usually used to make something rather than fresh eating. You would probably have more luck with a southern elderberry. I am testing Emerald Lace and it made it thru the drought but I am not sure if it gets cold enough for it here.
The Azarole is a Hawthorn so it will make a tart tasting fruit as well. Some are edible fresh but some are not. It is also a tree so if you start going the tree route, I could open you up to some of the most incredible fruit in the world but I thought we were trying to keep it small. There is a very interesting Hawthorn called Mexican Hawthorn or Tejacote. It is cold hardy and loves heat. It just isnt a big fresh eating fruit.
I would like to point out one of the fruits on that website that I think will also become a Texas winner over the next few decades. The Che Fruit or Melon Tree (cudrania tricuspidata). This tree grows pink fruits the size of a quarter. The taste is supposed to be melon/fig in flavor. I started growing these and they are extremely drought and heat tolerant. They can also take severe cold. You will surely see these popping up soon. Mine are small but have flowered each year. I hope to get fruit this year. They pretty much took care of themselves during the worst of the drought.
I dont know why I didnt think of this before. You can grow figs in your area. The Celeste fig is very easy to find in nurseries and is hardy to 7b I believe. My little brother grows a Brown Turkey fig in Dallas with no problems. You will probably only get 1 crop a year instead of two.
Keep it coming jujubetexas, more wild weird fruit, thanks.
Is the Celeste a smaller fig? Most figs become huge and sprawling.
I put 2 figs in pots 5 years ago and they do fine each year. I am no longer certain of the varieties. I am pretty sure one is the brown turkey fig., the other is some hybrid developed for this area. Neither has had any pest problems and both produce small figs most of the season. The problem is I rarely get any that are ripe for myself. My neighbors fig is huge, which is why I put mine in large pots.
C
Josephine, thanks for the passionvine. By the way, the wahoo bush I have for you seems to be doing well.
My dad has a very mature fig tree and he doesn't like figs, so I'm all set for figs! :)
I've decided to pull up the indian hawthorn along one side of my house and replant the whole side of the house with ornamental edibles. I have room for about 3 larger plants, so long as they are a reasonable size (9 feet or so) for a foundation planting for a single story house (or can be pruned that way).
I agree with Kenboy, and am enjoying looking up all the unusual fruits. :)
This site has a bit of different selection in obscure fruits if interested. http://www.greergardens.com/fruiting_plants.htm
JujubeTexas ~ above you mentioned southern elderberries and in the next sentence mentioned Emerald lace. Is that a type of southern elderberry? Let me pick your brain on other southern elderberry cultivars please?
I know that some Elderberries are native to Texas. I think the Common Elderberry comes up with a Texas A&M recommendation if you Google "Texas Elderberry". OneGreenWorld has about 9 varieties. I purchased Emerald Lace because it can grow in partial shade. My only concern is chill requirement for setting fruit. Only purchase the black variety and do NOT buy the red as they are poisonous. Just make sure when you buy one that it says it is the edible variety.
You can plant fruit trees if you can find a vendor that sells them on dwarf rootstock. Many people do mini-orchards with dwarf varieties that stay very small. I remember seeing a dwarf peach last year at Lowes that is only supposed to get about 4-6 feet. Just make sure it says DWARF on it.
Anna, Dorsett and Ein Shemer are all desert or tropical apples that can take the heat of the Texas but only require 100-300 chill hours. They are still extremely cold hardy. Search for them on Dwarf. You may be tempted to buy Mollie delicious apple or other varieties like that but do not. These three types of apples were designed in Israel and the Bahamas. Other apples just dont like it here.
Many of the "fruit salad" trees come in dwarf. Those trees are grafted so one tree produces plums, nectarines, apricots and peach. The good thing about a fruit salad tree is that the fruiting season is staggered over a great period of time instead of all at once.
The problem with these trees is that you can not pick the best variety for your area for all 4 fruits.
I am loving this thread! Thank you Dennis for having such a wonderful idea. I am learning so much. Hope to see all of you at the spring RU. I know it's not planned yet, but I've got cabin fever real bad with all this cold weather.
The dwarf I was looking at was more common - a Methley plum. I should only need one and can't decide on a dwarf or standard.
Apple trees in TX! I am amazed. Wonder how they would do as pot specimens?
C
I've got a native elderberry growing in the park right behind my house, and there are a number of them spread throughout the wooded area of the park. I planted mine about 3 years ago from a 4 inch cutting, and it grew FAST - it is now about 9 feet tall and has new ones popping up all around it. I don't know exactly what variety it is because I bought it at a garden club sale, where it was just labelled "native elderberry". I haven't so far done anything with it but watch the birds enjoy the berries. Has anyone ever tried using the berries for anything?
They make excellent jam Dennis.
I forgot to mention my personal favorite ornamental edible - chile petins. I have close to a dozen in various places in my landscape - they are ultra low maintenance and look like little berry bushes from summer until frost. Hopefully mine pulls through after the big cold spell we had this year.
I hope mine do too, they are so cute.
Here are two trees worth looking at even though they are not small.
Toona Sinensis (Fragrant Spring Tree):
HOT PINK leaves in spring. All the leaves are edilbe and supposedly taste like roasted garlic. They look very tropical but are cold hardy and will not freeze.
Moringa (Mothers Best Friend):
Considered one of the most nutritious trees on earth and many think it could end world hunger. It has everything that young mothers and children need to stay healthy. The leaves, flowers, pods, seeds and roots are edilbe. They grow on almost any type of soil and are very drought and heat tolerant. They will freeze to the ground every year and pop right back up in Spring. Dont plant up against your house or on your sewer line as it has very strong roots. This tree will not get big if you keep eating it all the time. In zone 9a and up, you will get a big tree and will have lots of pods you can eat like green beans or you can let them dry and roast the seeds like peanuts.
I am going to throw two more trees on here but I cant recommend them.
They are Royal Lee and Minnie Royal Cherry. They are low chill cherries developed for California. They are selling them all over Texas now because they dont need long cold winters to produce fruit. That being said, no one has been able to confirm their heat tolerance and I havent met anyone who said theirs thrived. I will only recommend trying these cherries if you are in the coolest part of Texas and can give them a little shade during the worst part of the day in summer.
I asked our local AgriLife agent about the Royal Lee and Minne Royal Cherry trees and was told these cherry trees are still being evaluated by TAMU. The agent suggested waiting until the testing is done. If you do decide to get the cherry trees, some nurseries make them available on two rootstocks, one for sandy soil and one for heavier soil and that has to do with nematode tolerance. Nemadodes can be a big problem here in Texas.
pod: If you are looking for a more compact fig, Black Jack and Petit Negri would work. Petit Negri is sometimes sold as the perfect one to grow in a pot. Because all figs have such large roots systems, a potted fig should be re-potted every spring to improve fruit production. I had one until recently
http://figs4fun.com/Varieties.html
Semi-dwarf fruit trees are usually available for most fruit varieties. These trees, while slightly taller than dwarf are sturdier than their dwarf counterpart, produce more fruit and can be kept down to manageable size by a bit of summer pruning.
Apple trees can be high management trees if they are grown in areas where pyracantha bushes and Bradford pear trees are common. Fire blight becomes a big problem. In other areas, cotton root rot can be a big problem. Sometimes you can get apple trees grafted onto rootstock that is resistant to cotton root rot.
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/fruitgarden/fruitvariety.html
Pomegranates make great ornamental edibles. Depending on variety, you can find some smaller growing shrubs/small trees.
Great ~ thanks for that info BettyDee. Actually the dwarf Methley plum was what I was considering but think I will buy the standard and prune to keep it in bounds. Any edible vines ideas beyond grapes? Will Kiwi do here?
Pod, according to this tamu site, http://easttexasgardening.tamu.edu/homegardens/homeorchard.html , kiwis are on the "to avoid" list for east Texas, but them it didn't specify whether the kiwis to avoid are Actinidia deliciosa, the large fuzzy kind, or Actinidia arguta and A. kolomikta, the small smooth skinned "hardy" kiwi. They are grown in states farther north than ours. I don't know what the chill hours requirement is for the individual hardy kiwis.
The vines are very vigorous and you will need a compatible male kiwi as well.
http://www.raintreenursery.com/catalog/producttype.cfm?producttype=ACTI
RainTree nursery also sells several vines that produce edible fruit, but I haven't tried any of them.
I have the Issai which is self-fertile. I also have an Anna. I believe my male kicked the bucket during the drought.
They are water hogs, hate drought, dislike intense heat and need 6-6.5ph. I also read they need fertilization along the levels of citrus which I have not given them. They grew like crazy when it rained really hard 2+ years ago but pretty much stopped growing during the drought. They would have died if I did not baby them the last two years. Lets see how next year goes.
Some of the plants we have discussed are described in this article:
http://www.garden.org/ediblelandscaping/?page=september_unusual
Plus a few others. Anyone know anything about goji berry or honey berry?
I have a Chile petin also...at least, I hope I still have one. I love my Brasil Tree (Condalia hookeri). It may have small berries, but tasty! Then there's the Spiny Hackberry (Celtis pallida), with yummy small orange berries. And the Texas Persimmon makes a great wildlife tree when it produces fruit...birds love it, for one thing. Agaritas makes some berries, which don't seem to last long around here...something eats them, so I don't get any. I like Kiowa Blackberry plants also. Oh, one book I like is Edible and Useful Plants of Texas and the Southwest by Delena Tull.
Spiny Hackberry with berries:
That sure looks nice Linda, I had never seen the Spiny Hackberry.
Please forgive my ignorance.
Is chile petin the same thing as ornamental chile?
Is it the same as Chile Pequin?
Here is an interesting article about chile pequin vs. chiltepins (i.e. chile petins). My chile petins are perfectly round and about the size of a pea. It sounds like chile pequins are very similar, but more oblong. Mine originally came from my mother-in-law's property down in Beeville.
O, so the chile petins are the ornamental (but edible) ones? Or have I now got it backwards? Or all wrong all together? Sorry just trying to get it right.