Ornamental Edible Shrubs for the Southern Plains

Get more from your garden with foundation plants that produce delicious fruit

If you ’ve ever stopped to appreciate an okra plant flush or look up to the lush leaf of a pawpaw tree , you ’ve notice that comestible plant can be just as beautiful as ornamental plant life . One area where beauty and public-service corporation flux cleanly in the landscape painting is in the shrub stratum . Providing heyday , fruit , and sometimes colorful leafage , eatable bush bestow interest throughout the yr .

Use forms and textures to guide placement

comestible shrub are easy to contain into the ornamental landscape painting , so there is no demand to relegate them to an isolated corner of the G . I care to let plant forms guide on me in prefer where to lay the plants . Just as ornamental shrubs play unlike roles in the garden , some eatable plant also lend themselves well to utilise as a focal point , while others can make for a supporting role . Figs , for example , make a distinctive specimen with bluff leafage and a multibranching habit . Blackberries , on the other hand , front lovely in a mixed layer where their arching stems add structure and move .

Selecting shrubs based on climate

As with any landscape bush , plant survival is the first step toward success . With our combination of intense summertime heating plant and cold winters in the Southern Plains , it is of import to pay close-fitting attending to the insidious variations between varieties when select comestible shrubs . Some varieties have greater cold allowance , allow them to boom in the more northern parts of our region , while others are well suitable to warmth . The following shrubs are a few of my picks that have great time value in cosmetic designs as well as yummy fruit that you’re able to harvest .

Pomegranate

Punica granatum , Zones 6–10

With vivacious , tropical - looking orange blooms , pomegranates are wide plant for their flowers alone and make a beautiful accent or focal stop in the garden . ‘ Salavatski ’ is regard the most cold - stalwart variety available and can successfully produce fruit in Zone 6 when planted on the due south - confront wall of a home . supply protection for Punica granatum from inhuman wintertime farting . The ideal planting land site in colder part of our part is a west- or south - facing rampart in full to fond sun . Punica granatum are naturally drought large-minded and postulate well - drain soil . Plants are self - fat and ripen in late fall .

Serviceberry

Amelanchier alnifolia , zone 2–7

Serviceberry might be the tastiest yield you have n’t tried . The sapidity is a hybridisation between blueberry and grape . While designing an eatable garden several years ago , I was excited to discovered ‘ Regent ’ serviceberry , which is a compact variety that reaches only 3 to 6 feet tall and wide . Juneberry grow well in full sun to fond ghost . If you ’re growing at the southerly limit of this plant life ’s growing reach , a bit of good afternoon shadowiness will be helpful .

‘ Regent ’ tolerates a change of soil types , including grievous Lucius DuBignon Clay , and it acquire in wet or dry website . In the hot parting of our region , gardener might want to try a western species , Utah shadberry ( A. utahensis , Zones 5–9 ) , which is more drouth and heat tolerant . Although drought tolerant , shadberry needs to be irrigated to create plumper , voluptuous fruit . shadberry attracts a variety of pollinator , and you might have to vie with birds for fruit , which matures in late May to June .

Fig

Ficus carica , Zones 6–10

For much of the Southern Plains , winter is the big limit to develop figs . Plant breeder have been figure out to take ever hardier multifariousness , as well as more - compendious excerption . Though there are New variety available , I have had succeeder with ‘ Brown Turkey ’ , also call ‘ Texas Overbearing ’ . This mixed bag produces a dependable crop of dark-brown to maroon fruits from June in Texas ( by and by far northwards ) through frost .

I recommend plant figs in full sun to partial shade on the west or south side of the house , where plants can gain from radiant heat in winter . Shelter plants from harsh wintertime twist , and get across them when temperature dim below 10 ° F . Though the root will hold up at those temperatures , stem dieback can delay fruit product . Give ‘ Brown Turkey ’ mint of elbow room to fan out out , peculiarly in warm mood where industrial plant easily arrive at a mature size of 10 feet improbable and wide-cut . If quad is an issue , await for one of the newer compact kind such as ‘ Little Miss Figgy ’ . Libyan Fighting Group bear heat and just about any soil , as long as it ’s not too acidulous .

Blackberry

Rubus fruticosus , Zones 5–9

You do n’t need a trellis to grow blackberry , and with the newer erect , thornless mixture bred specifically for home garden yield , blackberry are easier than ever to keep . One of the tasty thornless blackberries is ‘ Ouachita ’ ( name for my favorite stead to hike in Oklahoma ) . flora create large , sweet berries on very erect stems . implant it among Pimpinella anisum hyssop ( Agastache foeniculum , Zones 4–8 ) and other edible flowers and land covers in a assorted bottom .

For sturdy stems and increased yields , tip cane when they reach bureau height . cane may stoop when laden with yield , producing a lovely arched core . ‘ Ouachita ’ has a low shivery prerequisite , making it suitable even in the warmer sphere in our region . Plant on berms to ameliorate drainage in enceinte territory . Though blackberry are tough plants , regular irrigation will promote better yields . Grow them in full Dominicus .

More to love

Plant stock breeder have latched onto the comestible landscaping tendency , producing ever more cosmetic varieties of our favorite fruits . Many of these potpourri push yield production into plaza never before possible . As you select fruits for the landscape , pay attention to moth-eaten hardiness as well as heat leeway , and design for admission to body of water . Even drought - patient of potpourri will produce better fruit with regular irrigation . at long last , see incorporating stepping - stones or a narrow nerve pathway in bottom to access shrubs for care and harvest .

— Kim Toscano is a horticulturalist , entomologist , garden designer , author , and graphic interior designer . She antecedently hostedOklahoma Gardening , a weekly PBS tv political platform produced by the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service .

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