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Fruits and vegetables don’t have to be stuck in one corner of the yard. Many of them have attractive leaves, flowers and fruit. They can be incorporated right into the landscape.

Fruit trees can be substituted for flowering trees in the landscape. Fruiting peaches and pears have exactly the same flowers as flowering peaches and pears. Apples, cherries and plums are very similar to their flowering cousins except that the flowers only come in white and the leaves only in green. Fruit trees have a similar size and shape to many flowering trees commonly used in landscapes.

Pineapple Guava (Feijoa sellowianna) is an attractive evergreen shrub. It grows eight feet tall and ten feet wide. The leaves are silvery white underneath and the flowers are red. The flowers and fruit are both edible. It can be used as a large shrub or hedge in a landscape.

Blueberries also have many attractive features. The berries are colorful in the summer. The leaves turn a beautiful red in the fall. The twigs of Earliblue have a light coral color through the winter.

Gooseberries and currants have similar fruit on a 5 feet tall bush. Currants are thornless so they are easier to pick. Gooseberries have thorns so they are good security plants. No one will stand in a gooseberry bush to try to pry open a window.

Grapes or Kiwi Fruit can be trained as a vine, either up a trellis, along a fence or over the top of an arbor. The fruit is colorful as well as edible.

Some edible plants can be used as groundcovers. Strawberries make a good groundcover. The day neutral varieties such as Tri-Star bloom continuously from mid-spring to fall and have fruit from June through September. Lingonberry has small berries that make good preserves. Lemon Thyme has a green leaf with a yellow edge. It is very fragrant and can be used as a flavoring in cooking.

There are some drawbacks to including edible plants in the landscape. Fruit can be messy, especially if planted next to a sidewalk, deck or driveway. Fallen apples and pears will have to be picked up before mowing. Also, some pesticides can’t be used on or near edible plants so it doesn’t work to plant edibles with roses or rhodies.

More information can be found on my webpages:
Landscape Design | Improving Soil | Plant Nutrients | Planting in Clay Soil | Roses
Edible Landscaping | Fruit Tree Tips | Planting a Vegetable Garden | Lawn Care | Pest Control
Pruning for Shade, Flowers and Fruit | Seasonal Pruning Guide | Remove Trees Roots and All
Fall Planting | Water Wise Gardening | Winter Plant Protection | Oregon Invasive Plants
Oregon Native Landscape Plants | House Plants | Plant Propagation

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