Recommended Plants for Your Foodscape Text and photos courtesy Custom Foodscaping
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and ecosystems will continue to suffer, and our precious butterfly, insect, and bee friends will be the first to experience the disruption of a once harmonious ecosystem.
or St. Louisans looking to grow beautiful, welladapted fruit trees and shrubs, sourcing plants can be a challenge. Access is limited, and you may get a few raised eyebrows when you go asking for goumi berries at your local nursery. Nonetheless, it’s not impossible. So, to help you get started, here are some best practices for selecting fruit trees and shrubs that will thrive in the St. Louis region as well as where to source these delicious foodscaping fruit trees and shrubs.
Common Sense Foodscaping Starts with Natives With climate shifts forecasted to cause harmful droughts and erosion that may threaten food production, there’s an ecological imperative that we plant natives in our edible landscapes. Natives, or plants originally from our region, can thrive with much less water than lawns, lowering not only our water bills but our vulnerability through seasons of drought.
Here are a few guidelines to work with when determining the best foodscape plants for your region: Choose “nativars” (native + cultivar). Nativar is a term used to describe cultivated varieties of native fruiting plants chosen for their desirability such as disease and pest resistance or accelerated growth. When planting nativars, you can get all the hardy benefits of natives with the perks of incredibly delicious fruit. In our region, 6b, we love to plant:
Grafted Pawpaw The largest native with fruit banana/mango flavor. Tons of great grafted cultivars make big fruits. Try to plant at least 3 in close proximity (<10’) for best pollination. Slow growing at first. Has a pleasing ornamental shape. Can be planted in full sun despite its common place in the shady woodlands. Hand pollination helps the Also, natives rarely require spraying, which keeps toxic chemicals fruit set. from seeping into our soil and water table. According to the National Research Council, lawns are now dumped with more Grafted Persimmon pesticides per acre (3.2-9.8 lbs) than conventional farms (2.7 lbs The American persimmon is the sweetest fruit we can grow! Be per acre on average). Think about that next time you’re playing sure to get grafted varieties like Early Golden, Prok and Yates in the lawn with your loved ones. Natives are allies in supporting to get big fruits. Amazing fruit but foliage can quite often look tattered and black. A tall tree that lends itself to big open areas like human health just as much as planetary health. parks and rural properties. Natives are also key players in providing food and habitat for insect life that lives in our region. If the trend for superficially-supported If you’re looking for a more compact persimmon, go with a hybrid exotic landscapes continues, the biodiversity in our gardens variety. Nakita’s Gift, Kassandra and Rosseyanka are winners. Bigger fruit than the American. Quite ornamental like the Asians. Fruit hangs on deep into the fall. YOUR TREES DESERVE THE BEST CARE These are edible landscape allstars! Serviceberry
Tim Gamma – B.S. Horticulture Board Certified Master Arborist Tom Gamma ISA Certified Arborist P R U N I N G ■ F E R T I L I Z AT I O N ■ P L A N T I N G S P R AY I N G ■ T R I M M I N G ■ R E M O VA L
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The Gateway Gardener™ SUMMER 2022
