Top 3 edible landscape trees in your yard
Not all landscape trees are created equal. Many traditional landscape trees lack adequate structure to be planted so close to a home ( I’m talking to you Bradford Pears)…. and yet we continue to plant them and wonder why they split and drop limbs while serving virtually no purpose for wildlife or ourselves. What if I told you there were better options both for your roof, wildlife, and your gut? There are! Here’s a couple of our favorites:
Oaks
Oaks are a Keystone species marking them as one of the handful of plants that are substantially more essential to our ecosystem than other species. They (broadly as a genus) host the most amount of caterpillars of any genus for our ecoregion (243-1000 species depending on the source, location, and scope of study), making them essential to songbirds which are currently on a steady decline. Their structure as a whole tends to be relatively stable, species vary with preferred shape but overall they don’t tend to drop limbs as much as your soft maples or tulip trees making mowing, and yard maintenance a little easier. They are slower growing compared to some other trees but it will pay off in the end. Acorns produced from the oak trees are a valuable human and wildlife source as well. Acorns are a staple for most of our common Ozark fauna like turkey, and deer. Acorns can be used as a resource for their tannins, or can be used as a human food crop. Acorns can be harvested and leached in the fall and substitute for a high protein and gluten free flour, can be roasted to create an African nutty drink (my favorite), crackers, noodles, cakes, and whatever else your mind can dream up. White oak acorns are more palatable with less tannins, but take 2 years to form, while red oak acorns have a higher tannin content but produce yearly. Both require leaching but Bur Oaks tend to be a preferred acorn for foragers . As far as tree health, Oak decline, Post Oak decline, hypoxelin, and many more issues can arise on oaks but in general they stand hardy as long as they don’t outgrow the site they sit on.
Serviceberry
Another Keystone species and an underrated native edible landscape tree. This tree has a deep history with the indigenous folks all across its native range. A good substitute for Bradford Pears as they flower beautiful fragrant white flowers around the same time, but they stay about redbud size making them substantially less hazardous to your house and perfect for small yards. Berries are fantastic and taste somewhere between a blueberry and a plum if you can fight the birds for them! They can be pruned to be a shrub or tree so they remain versatile in that way.
Walnut
Time to put down the Hater-ade. Hear me out! If you have attended any of my classes, its likely you heard my soapbox speech about walnuts. Walnut/ Juglone toxicity in plants is actually highly debated and blown out of proportion. Yes. Juglone is an allelopathic chemical that is exuded in varying amounts from walnut trees…. but allelopathy is present in 72% of plant families world wide making it a rather normal plant defense mechanism. Juglone and walnut toxicity is only a subject of common discourse (in my opinion) because the plants it effects are primarily grocery store food crops… but not everything is going to whither and die beneath a walnut tree. If you don’t believe me, I urge you to go touch grass and look at how many things grow seemingly unbothered in their understory out in the woods. Now that we have that out of the way, lets actually discuss why we like them!
Walnuts have a unique open canopy structure making them very nice for birds, but also they tend to grow naturally in very pleasant shapes in open grown environments like yards. The limb dropping is not common unless there is decay. Some plants are sensitive to the juglone, but I have observed that many plant species that are naturally distributed via birds seem to grow unbothered in their root zone. Considering the open canopy, they tend to have more light infiltration below their crowns making them excellent candidates for permaculture guilds (with appropriate species selection). Tent caterpillars that camp out in the foliage can be harvested for fishing bait, syrup can be extracted from the cambium, walnuts can be used for dyes, herbalism, and a variety of food like plain walnuts, but also nocino, and more!
I hope this inspires you to get out there and plant some trees! As always any good tree starts with a proper planting, and healthy genetics. Proper care and understanding is powerful! If you want to learn more on how to turn these trees into food, I urge you to connect with local foraging educators and chefs like Bo Brown, Rachael West (Eating the Ozarks), Ginger Miller with MDC, Melissa Sisk at Powel Gardens, and many more! There’s also famous foraging chefs like Alan Bergo and Pascal Baudar that have reputable and tasty recipes. As always if you feel inspired and want some of these trees planted, reach out!
Thank you <3
