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Edible Landscapes: Ornamental Fruit & Nut Trees & Shrubs

Edible Landscapes: Ornamental Fruit & Nut Trees & Shrubs

Adam Chapman, General Manager at Bates Nursery and Garden Center Nashville, discusses fruit and nut trees and shrubs that add ornamental interest to the garden.

 

 

Plants Mentioned in this Webinar:

 

Ornamental Cabbage & Kale

 

Blueberries/Vaccinium:

 

Ornamental Value: Good fall color, can be used for fillers and borders

Soil Needs: Blueberries are acid loving, use a fertilizer that has sulfur in it. Recommended fertilizer: Espoma Holly-Tone.

 

Smaller blueberry varieties for small spaces or containers

Southern Bluebelle: gets 2-3’ tall

Lowbush Varieties

Pink Icing

 

Larger Varieties of Blueberries

Rabbiteye varieties are all 6-8’ tall

Tifblue- 6-8’ tall

Pink lemonade-pink berries

 

 

Raspberries & Blackberries/Rubus:

 

Ornamental Value: Nice fall color, good for fillers and borders

Soil Needs: Prefer a neutral pH, use a fertilizer like Espoma Plant-Tone or Earthmix® Landscape™ to amend soil.

 

Smaller raspberry varieties for small spaces or containers:

Raspberry shortcake-2’ tall

 

Larger varieties of raspberries:

Heritage-gets 5-6’ tall

 

Smaller blackberry varieties for small spaces and containers:

Black Satin-gets 3-4’ tall

 

Larger varieties of blackberries:

Apache-gets 5-8’ tall

 

 

Fig/Ficus:

Ornamental Value: Interesting leaf shape, bush-like

Soil Needs: Prefers neutral soil, a fertilizer like Espoma Plant-Tone or an amendment like EarthMix® Landscape™ will help plants to fruit.

Varieties of Hardy Fig:

Olympian-very cold hardy

Brown Turkey

Chicago Hardy

 

 

Grapes/Vitus:

Ornamental Value: good for trellising, grows very fast and is not prone to disease

Soil Needs: Prefers neutral soil, a fertilizer like Espoma Plant-Tone or an amendment like EarthMix® Landscape™ will help plants to fruit. Must have 2 varieties to fruit.

 

Muscadine Grape Varieties:

Scuppernong

Carlos (good for cross-pollination)

 

 

Hops/Humulus:

Ornamental Value: Good for trellising and fences. Hop cones in the early fall/late summer offer ornamental interest.

Soil Needs: Prefers neutral soil, a fertilizer like Espoma Plant-Tone or an amendment like EarthMix® Landscape™ will help plants to fruit. Prefers well-drained soil, so adding something like EarthMix® EnLighten™ expanded shale will help.

 

Aurea/Golden Hops

 

 

 

Trees:

Soil Needs: Most fruit and nut trees prefer a neutral pH soil. Use a fertilizer like Tree-Tone, and amend soil with EarthMix® Landscape™

Common Problems: Pest and disease pressure is significant on fruit and nut trees in Middle Tennessee. Put your trees on a spray schedule. Never spray while the trees are blooming, as it can adversely affect pollinators. A few products to use:

Dormant Oil

Copper Fungicide

Orchard Spray (contains fungicide and insecticide).

 

Autumn Brilliance Serviceberry

Ornamental value: Brilliant fall color. Beautiful fall color, 15’ tree. Can be pruned to be bush-form or single-stemmed. Native to Tennessee, and attracts birds to the yard.

 

Sumner Pecan

Ornamental value: Can get up to 50’ tall, makes a great shade tree. Needs more than one variety to pollinate, and takes several years before it starts producing fruit.

 

Bonanza Patio Peach

Ornamental value: gets 6-7’ tall and wide. Has reddish attractive foliage, and produces tasty fruit.

 

Other Fruit Trees to Consider:

Apple-Need two apple trees to cross-pollinate.

Pears-These are the easiest fruit trees to grow in Middle Tennessee. Need two pear trees to cross-pollinate.

Peaches

Plums

Tart Cherry

Montmorency: tart cherry. Tart cherries are difficult to grow, but do better in Middle Tennessee than sweet cherry.

 

 

Lemon and Lime Trees:

Good in containers, but are not cold hardy in Middle TN.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

           

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