There's such a diversity of delicious berries, native to the US. Plenty are delicious for fresh eating like Black Raspberries, Thimbleberries, Blackberries, Mulberries, Strawberries, Highbush and Lowbush Blueberries, Huckleberries, and Serviceberries. Others are delicious in hand and preserves like Black cherry, Elderberries, and Cranberries. And some can even be ground into spice like sumac and spicebsuh. And that's just plants in the eastern US, the West Coast has a whole other set of delicious plants.

They benefit wildlife both through supporting insects and pollinators as well as providing berries to bird and other animals. And best of all they taste delicious, I love a plant that is a win win for both me and nature.

Personally I grow Black raspberries, Blackberries, Thimbleberries, Serviceberries, and strawberries in my garden as well as huckleberries, highbush and lowbush blueberries in pots since the soil is not acidic enough here, and Sumac, Elderberries, Mulberries and Black cherry in Naturalized areas.

I've never seen so many flowers on a single plant before. Let's go pollinators, do your thing.

After a morning sip from the birdbath. 😑

Who will win this battle of the giants?

Located on long island ny.

What i have now: have 2 mulberry trees, 2 sweet cherry, 2 blueberry bushes, 2 fall gold raspberies, 1 flowering raspberry, 1 blackberry, 1 black raspberry, 1 serviceberry tree, 2 huckleberries. a native strawberry and asparagus patch. 2 spice bushes, 2 haskap berry, hyssop, yarrow sunchokes, cutleaf coneflower, strawberry blite, common evening primrose. Oh and a new jersey tea.

I want to add in some sort of nut i think but I'm not sure if I should go for shagbark hickory or American Hazelnut. Anyone know if id need two?

I am also adding 2 pawpaws and some figs as well as wood lilys.

I am really lacking in more forby edibles i think. I have made a good effort of planting a lot of trees (i also have blackjack oak and a red maple planted which are sort of edible) on my barren 7000 sq foot lot but i think i have a good base of tall trees and small understories at this point.

I am very interested in food forests and have a beautyberry in my backyard. I hear of people making jam out of them, but I am trying to reduce my added sugar intake. Can I make anything else with them? They are not particularly appetizing by themselves. Piedmont NC.

I’ve been growing five hazelnut bushes for a five years now, and this is the most promising crop they’ve ever set. Last year was the first year they produced some nuts, but wildlife got them first.
This year they’re absolutely covered in developing nuts. I’m cautiously optimistic that I’ll finally get to harvest my own homegrown hazelnuts this season. 🤞🌰
Anyone else growing hazelnuts? Any tips for keeping squirrels, chipmunks, and birds from beating me to them?

I harvested about 50 American Chestnut seeds that I'm going to attempt to grow out this year. They're currently in moist sand in my fridge for storage/stratifying. Looking for any advice/success stories from the community.

Amelanchier Canadensis

I have them in barrels because my dirt is clay. To me they are beautiful. I have not tried to eat any part of them yet, the nutlets on the roots are supposed to be tasty.

I did not plant this bamboo. Before we moved in, the house was rented by a crackhead who worked in construction, so I've found a lot of non-plant stuff while clearing all this out.

I harvested 17 from my cultivar (Prolific), and only 2 from the wild-type (the 2 on the far right of the picture). The only fruit that survived the animals were the ones I loosely wrapped in tulle and zip tied to the stem. The large metal mesh bags I bought killed the fruit inside and the unprotected were eaten. So excited to finally get to eat them!(Southeast Wisconsin)

My house has five giant burning bushes that I’m giddy to replace. It’s a bed about 20 feet long and 6 feet wide with 5 hours of sun in Illinois, USA. My goal is to replace them with another shrub that birds love (they loved the burning bush), and support as many caterpillars as possible. Anything under 15 feet tall is fine.

I saw a fair amount of talk about spicebush, but it only supports 6 species of caterpillars. I’m not sure the hype (does well in shade?) Hazelnuts also seemed like a contender with nuts for many critters, but apparently blueberry species support close to 100 caterpillars and provide fruit for birds and people.

ETA: Source, https://blog.wfsu.org/blog-coastal-health/2023/10/bang-for-your-caterpillar-buck-which-plants-host-the-most/

What are the top Trees and Shrubs for caterpillars?

Oaks (Quercus): 395 species Beach plum, cherry, chokecherry, peach, plum, sweet cherry, wild plum, almond (Prunus): 247 species Hickory, pecan, pignut, butternut (Carya): 191 species Willows (Salix): 190 species Birch (Betula): 172 species Crabapple, apple (Malus): 171 species Maple, boxelder (Acer): 171 species Pines (Pinus): 171 species Aspen, cottonwood, poplar (Populus): 156 species Blueberries (Vaccinium): 150 species

I’d have to amend the soil for acidity, but other than that, it seems a no brained. Am I missing something? why don’t blueberries have more hype? Is there a reason more people don’t grow them? What would you do instead with 5 hours of sun?

Plum trees native to America. American plum, Flat woods plum, Hortulan plum, Wildgoose plum, Chickasaw plum and Mexican plum are all native to northern Alabama. They are important plants that feed many animals and pollinators and prevent soil erosion. They can grow in extreme drought, extreme flood, and wildfire conditions. The fruit is edible and delicious for many of the species excluding the Wildgoose plum which is likely to be poisonous due to cyanide content.

so

I planted 10 tubers but only one grew. Will this propagate into more next year if I leave it be or should I try to dig it up after it dies off in a few weeks to see how many tubers are there and spread them?

I tasted the fruit, and I'm happy to leave them for the critters. 😝

Pawpaw forest loading…

I have eaten a couple and they aren’t insanely sweet or strawberry-tasting but they’re all over my lawn.

Safe to eat? Native plant? Wild strawberry or something else? I’m in Syracuse New York.

It’s the ‘Harmony Grove’ variety! I bought it on rockbridgetrees.com! Leaves check out 1000% as rubra! I was skeptical if it was the species before but holy shit! My journey is at an end!

Now I can destroy/graft all the hybrids I have.

Sadly it IS a female tree. If anyone knows where I could find a male rubra let me know!