Edible landscaping

Hi guys. I've been lurking around this thread for the past few days, but didn't have anything helpful to add.

Chile petins are mucho hot! But I love them. I pop the Plastic shaker insert out of the top of an empty Tabasco bottle, fill it about half full of chile petins and then fill with vinegar. Then, put the insert back in and you have some great hot sauce for beans, greens, etc.

Don

I guess Chile Pequin (although I say chile petin...probably it's easier to say that) must be what I have, because it's the one that grows wild here. And wild plants are where I got the seeds, of course. Also call Bird Pepper for the obvious reason that birds just love to eat them!
http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=CAAN4

Dennis,

I really appreciated the coral honeysuckle you sent by Josephine due to my missing the Arlington RU.

I would love to bring you something. I have lots of maypops. If you are truly wanting to grow something that you would enjoy eating, I don't think you would be happy with it.

For the benefit of a view from the neighbor's dining room, it would make a beautiful sight. Train them on a fence or put a trellis for them. They are not picky about soil, sun or water. Mine bloom like crazy all season long starting late spring to early summer.

It spreads by rhizomes and is easy enough to control. They make great trades or you can just mow the pop-ups down.

It will grow up to thirty feet in a season. It dies back during the winter. The flowers smell wonderful and are beautiful to look at. The fruit is a sort of jelly that encapsulates the seeds. It is the type of thing that you put in your mouth, and sort of suck the fruit off of the seeds and then dispose of the seeds (spit'em out).

I really don't care enough for the taste to go to the trouble of doing all the work to get the fruit eaten.

I did some investigating last night and found a Currant that is heat hardy in Texas. Most Currants hate it here and prefer a Northern environment. However, the Clove Currant is supposed to be able to take it here and produce decent fruit. In addition, it is supposed to be extremely fragrant and that is the primary draw on this plant. I am going to order one in Spring.

I've read that regardless of what it's called, whether it's round or slightly elongated, it's the same chili. The shape variation is chalked up as genetic variation within the species. Others divide the two into different sub species. We have a number of plants growing wild on the ranch. Some produce round chilies while others produce the slightly elongated ones. The ones I have planted in my garden receive fertilizer and are watered regularly so the chilies are larger. http://www.shgresources.com/tx/symbols/peppernative/

Catzgalore, I have only seen chile petins/pequins on sale a few times, at nurseries that specialize in native plants. I have seen a number of other peppers in various colors, sizes, and shapes sold as "ornamental peppers".

Jujube, you are killing me! I just don't have enough room for all of the cool plants in this thread. Someday I will have a large lot... Maybe I just need to buy an empty lot somewhere in town - for gardening only. :)

jujubetexas, we have a 5 acre old horse pasture, bring it on.

Here are some trees for you Kenboy.

The best fruit tree to grow in Texas is Jujube. The saying is that it "gives more and asks less" than any fruit tree out there. It's only requirement is lots of sun and heat. Just take care of it the first year and it will do the rest from there. Down the block from my house, there is a 60+ year old Jujube that no one waters that produced fruit all through the drought the last few years. It doesnt require fertilizer and is adaptable to almost all soil types and PH. The fruit is similar to an apple fresh and a date dehydrated. It has almost no pests other than a few birds pecking at them. It has more vitamin C than citrus and contians Betulinic acid that fights melanoma. If you leave the fruit out in the sun for a week or two, it dehydrates and is good for at least a year. No animals or pests touched the fruit out in the open when I dried it last year.
The varieties that you will find being sold at nurseries this year are:
Li: fresh eating and drying
Lang: drying only
SugarCane: fresh eating very sweet (new)
Sherwood: fresh eating and drying

You can get more online. The best out there is HoneyJar but very hard to find.


Persimmons are the next on list. They require very little fertilization and are very adaptable. Most people are familiar with the astringent varieties that you have to let soften before eating. However, the Fuyu or Jiro persimmon can be eaten hard like an apple when ripe. They like long hot summers. There are three at the Catholic church down the street and they fruited during the drought and flood every third year or so. The taste is really unique and rich. Just make sure they are ripe before eating or you will regret it.

Asian pears are just similar to American pears except they are crunchy and crisp like an apple. They are more heat tolerant that Americans in my opinion and seem to take to Texas well. The crops can be huge. They generally have a lower chill requirement and the taste is very very good. I feel that they will be taking over the pear market in the next 10-20 years.

A friend of mine in Dallas has a smallish pear tree on the side of his house that produces massive amounts of small, delicious pears. I don't think he is much of a gardener so I suspect the tree is on its own. It does not seem to be bothered by the climate here. I need to find out what kind of tree it is.
C

I would love to sneak into peoples yards at night and graft Asian Pear on their Bradford Flowering Pear. Bradford is a fruiting pear that they bred the fruits to be tiny and inedible so you could have a landscaping pear tree. Some people say that fruit trees are messy and that is why they dont like them. I guess those people dont do compost.

If you havent guessed, my yard is almost entirely edible. I use it as a testing center for my orchard but I really want to shoot for that Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory feel. Remember when he opened the door and told them that everything in that room was edible. That is what I want.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ-uV72pQKI

Enjoy.

I just spent the better part of an hour on this great thread.

LOL - thanks for the Willy Wonka memory jujube!

We are also big fans of edible landscape & we're still hoping to find pineapple guava for sale in any one of our local nurseries - fingers crossed for this spring!

Here's a few that haven't been mentioned:

Texas Scarlet Flowering Quince - a small native bush with pretty scarlet flowers late winter or early spring. Quince berries follow are edible and said to make excellent pies and jellies.

American Hazelnut aka American Filbert - a large bush or small tree grows 3-10 ft tall. Grows in sun or partial shade, leaves turn orange, red or purple in fall. Can't wait to have a crop of hazelnuts!

Loquat tree is extremely cold hardy & commonly grown in north Texas as an ornamental. Fruits are very edible and sweet. Only problem is they are fall flowering and fuiting into winter - which if the weather is cold like it has been this winter it will probably affect the production.

There's another tree I've been wanting to find called Black Sapote, Zapote Negro Diaspyras digyna known as the "Chocolate pudding fruit" tree. Haven't been able to find this one yet... anyone?

there's probably more that I'm not thinking of right now. will get back if I think of them.

I have a Scarlet Quince but have not received any fruit production on it. I eventually just moved it out at the orchard as an ornamental. It is very drought tolerant.

I have a few loquats. One fruits ever year while the other one usually loses it fruit in a freeze. They are hardy to 0-5F degrees but the fruit and flowers form in the winter and can be killed at temps below 24F. They are very prolific and the fruit is great. The are very drought and heat tolerant. Plant it near a house to increase fruit survival during the winter.

I know nothing about nuts but always wanted to try a Filbert just because the name is funny.

The Black Sapote is a tropical tree. I researched it but it cant take the cold even in 8b. I cant wait to try one some day. I have a White Sapote called the "ice cream fruit". It is hardy to 24F and I had to cover it with a blanket with a light bulb underneath to make it thru this winter. They do taste like vanilla ice cream a bit. Super delicious.

Just dont plant them in an area that gets lots of standing water. A well drained location is best.

I will also purchased some Honeyberries to try this Spring. They are a relative to the Honeysuckle and make Blueberry like fruit that is 3/4 to 1 inch long. It does not require special soil like the Blueberry and can take partial shade locations. I did not think that they could take the heat but I have started to read reports of people growing it in hotter locations of the country. I am just testing and this plant does not have the green light for Texas yet.

Well there is no worry of standing water for me. I'm on a hillside and unless I go out of my way to impound/capture it the water flows away from me :)

I'm interested in the honeyberry, let us know how it turns out (please).

We just got back from Bob Wells nursery where I was picking up four Pink Dogwoods for a customer. while I was there I picked up several Apples. We got a Gala, Fuji, Granny Smith and two Honeycrisp. This is the first year they have sold the Honeycrisp and they do not know how well they do in our area but I was willing to take a chance, I love that Apple so much. I did not go for the Apples with low chill requirements, I went for ones I like to eat. I may get the others later but I wanted to get some in the ground this season. When I was in Fort Worth I was told that Apples did not do well in that area but planted a Golden Delicious anyway. Everyone was amazed at how well they did, even people who were gardeners. I also picked up a Methley Plum. Last month I planted 10 Powderblue Blueberries. last year I planted 4 different Blueberries and 3 different Peaches. I like having fresh fruit around for as many months as possible. Now with all of the new, not so main stream, fruits listed on this thread I should be eating high on the hog. Thanks.

Yes, this thread has been very informative and very much appreciated.

Ken

Honeycrisp requires about 800 chill hours to break dormancy properly. Apple are pretty demanding that way. I brought several mini-apple trees with me when we moved to Texas. Those that required more than the 600 chill hours we average, died within 3 years. We arrived in summer. By the following spring, I could see something was wrong, but then I know I was taking a chance on bringing them with me. The trees were in expensive large fiberglass pots that I knew I would not be able to replace so I brought the trees with me.

The Granny Smith apple was created when a woman threw a crab apple in her compost waste heap in Austrailia in the late 1800's. The one seedling became Granny Smith named after the old lady. I bet it is in between the new low chill and high chill apples. The problem with high chill apples is they die slowly over the course of 1-3 years in Texas. It is very aggrevating.

I knew I was going against the odds but wanted to try. I grow a lot of plants that people say can't be done. I do love Apples so I will probably go back for the low chill ones before Spring, just to be safe. Thanks.

Where are you finding the chill requirements for the other Apples I got, Gala, Fuji, and Granny Smith. Thanks for the help everyone.

This doesn't list the specific chill requirements of each species, but this map gives lists according to the zones on the map. Maybe it would help.
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/homefruit/apple/apple.html

This has a listing for Gala and Fuji at less than 500.
Granny Smith has 600 minimum.
It is important to remember that this is not heat tolerance. It is minimum hours below 45 degrees required to flower in Spring. Of possible apple choices, these arent the best but they are definitely better than something like Mollys delicious.

http://www.davewilson.com/ordered/mount_fuji.html


Here is another article about low chill apples. It ranks Fuji, Anna and Gala as the best tasting.

http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/files/filelibrary/5764/33384.pdf


If you have an apple tree die from heat over a few years but you really want that variety, try planting it where it gets lots of sun from morning to 3pm and then partial shade from 3pm to dusk. You might not get as many apples but the tree would have a better chance of living. If you really wanted to go crazy, buy some apple rootstock. Grow it for a few years and then buy apple variety grafting wood/scions. Then graft all the varieties you want on to that rootstock tree. You can have 10 apples on one tree.

Here is how. It isnt hard but most people think it is so they dont try.

http://citrus.forumup.org/viewtopic.php?t=500




This message was edited Feb 12, 2010 11:03 AM

The Dave Wilson site Lee mentioned is one of the first ones I go to for fruit information, but there are others as well. If I had lots of trouble finding the information, I copy and paste onto a Word document and save to my fruit folder.

Here are more sources for finding chill hour requirements:
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/hillcountry/Apples/varieties.html
http://www.chestnuthilltreefarm.com/Chilling-Hours.html
This site has a list of recommended apple varieties for Texas by zone:
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/homefruit/apple/apple.html

Willis Orchard Co. includes the chill hours in its description:
http://www.willisorchards.com/category/Apple+Trees?gclid=CLeMpebO7Z8CFVth2gode3lhYA

If you're interested in antique varieties, UC Davis has this recommendation:

So let me throw another fruit tree in the mix...

Has anyone tried growing Pawpaw here in Texas (and specifically DFW)? If so do you have a reliable source for buying them and any tips/tricks for their success?

Thanks!

I am trying to grow Paw Paw down here in San Marcos. They are weird trees.

1. They have a tap root so ask if the tap root is intact when buying.
2. They are an understory tree and need heavy shade the first two years after seed. After that, they can have full sun.
3. They may be heat sensitive but North Texas should be fine since they already grow in Northeast Texas.
4. They like moist soil but do not like waterlogging.
5. You can buy seedlings for 5-12 dollars on the internet. These may give variable fruit but you can find out if they will grow in your area for cheap.
6. You need two to produce crops. There are some listed as self-fertile but pretty much you need two trees.
7. They are very cold hardy even though they are related to the tropical Sugar Apple and Cherimoya.
8. You can get seedlings everywhere on the internet, including EBAY, but if you want to try a named variety, try BurntRidgeNursery or any vendor here on Daves.

jujubetexas- Thank you! That's very helpful.

Just finished ordering a goumi, a goji berry, and some carpet raspberries. I am getting passiflora incarnata at the spring roundup. Now all I need is pineapple guava and chilean guava and my edible landscaping will be done for now. :)

dfwdennis, let us know where you find the Guavas, we need some also.

same here

Where did you order the raspberries from?
C

I ordered the raspberries, goji, and goumi from Burnt Ridge Nursery. I am planning to order the Chilean Guava from Bay Flora in a few weeks. I am keeping an eye out for Pineapple Guava at local nurseries since a few of them told me they will carry them in the spring.

I just went to Bay Flora and they say they are out of Chilean Guava.

You can get them at onegreenworld.com.
They will start shipping later this month to early March.
Remember what I said earlier in the post that mine froze down to the bottom three inches when I didnt protect them at 14 degrees. They will be best grown close to the house in an area that gets lots of morning sun and little late afternoon sun. They do not like direct sun at the hottest part of the day.

RainTree Nursery has the Chilean Guava:
http://www.raintreenursery.com/catalog/producttype.cfm?producttype=Guava

I have the perfect spot up against the east side of my house. I am also going to try one in a pot, as a backup. :)

They are definitely worth it. The taste is really really good.

I just bought a pineapple guava at the Calloways in Southlake.

Thanks for letting us know. Marshall Grains said they would have them in at the end of March. Wonder if I can wait that long!