Plant Types: A Few Examples
Woody Ornamentals (plants that keep their woody structure and don’t die back to the ground in winter)
• Azalea
• Hydrangea
• Crape Myrtle
• Camellia
• Yew
Perennials (plants that die to the ground in fall and winter, but keep their rootstock and come back in the spring for two or more years)
• Agastache
• Black-Eyed Susan
• Penstemon
• Purple Coneflower
• Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’
Purple coneflower
Colorful & Dependable Annual Flowers for Your Foodscape
If you’d like to add annual flowers to your foodscape, here are some good options. They’re easy to grow from seed most anywhere and pack a punch with pollinators.
Cuphea
Melampodium
Warm Season Annuals
I find that my summer plant palette has more flowering annuals than edibles because of where I live; my options for food crops that I can grow in the heat of the Carolina summer are a bit slim. If you live in a cooler region, you might have more edibles overlapping seasons than I do.
• Callibrochoa
• Celosia
• Coleus
• Cuphea
• Lantana
• Marigold
• Melampodium (it reseeds, but is easy to pull out)
• Perilla (pull it out before it goes to seed)
• Salvia, annual varieties
• Zinnia
Cool Season Annuals
• Alyssum
• Calendula
• Ornamental Kale and Cabbage
• Petunia
• Snapdragon
• Viola
Cactus-flower zinnia
Fruit & Nut Trees in the Ornamental Framework
I don’t bother much with fruit trees. They require so much work in order to get them to produce edible fruit, and there are lots of great organic options at the grocery and farmers’ markets for staples like apples, peaches and pears. Of course, there’s nothing stopping you from growing fruit trees, but I find the time, energy and money required to get a substantial harvest is not worth it. I will, however, plant some native trees that produce hard-to-find fruits that don’t ship well. Persimmons and paw paws are wonderful options because they’re easy. Instead of an ornamental pear (please never plant one of those), try a paw paw; they’re on the smaller side and they produce delicious fruits!
As for nut-bearing trees, if you have room for larger shade trees, plant a pecan or chestnut, but be sure to position it on the north side of the bed so it doesn’t steal sunlight from your other edible plants. Almond and hazelnut are slightly smaller and can be inter-planted with the shrubs and seasonal edibles.
Plants for Your Region
Important note: As you’ve seen, I have been using my North Carolina foodscape as a template and I have mentioned a few of my favorite ornamental plants – some of which may not do as well in other parts of North America. And there are lots of plants that I can’t grow successfully that do beautifully elsewhere. If you’d like some plant selection advice for your area, please visit the extensive plant-list section at the back of the book, “Ornamentals for Every Region.” It can help give you some inspiration in designing your foodscape framework.
Planting the Ornamental Framework: Trees and Shrubs
The next chapter will focus mostly on planting the seasonal edibles, and the techniques and issues specific to them. But first, here’s your crash course on planting trees and shrubs.
Prepare the Soil
Whenever you’re about to embark on a big gardening project, it’s a good idea to have your soil tested. That way, you’ll know exactly what you’re working with. What’s in the soil (or not in the soil), in addition to the soil pH and structure, has a huge impact on plant health. If you do end up needing to make some adjustments to the soil, better to do that as you’re planning.
To test your soil, download the necessary instructions and forms from your local Cooperative Extension office. Extension services originate from land grant universities such as Purdue University (my alma matter) or NC State, near my house. They have offices throughout each state, regardless of where the “mothership” university is. You can look up information about soil testing and download forms from the website for your state’s extension agency. All you’ll have to do is mail in or drop off the soil sample. You’ll get a report via mail or email.
Interpreting a Soil Test
The soil test will give you some specific information to act upon. Test results will tell you about certain qualities of the soil, including:
• Soil pH
• Soil class (mineral, mineral organic, organic)
• Humic matter percentage
• CEC (Cation Exchange Capacity)
• Macro nutrients: levels of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K).
• Micro nutrients: including, but not limited to, levels of magnesium, copper, sulfur and calcium
These numbers, and the way the soil characteristics they indicate interact, will lead to the more important (for gardeners) parts of the soil test, which are the lime and fertilizer recommendations compiled from an analysis of the data contained in the soil test.
These recommendations will be listed in pounds per 1,000 square feet of surface area. Multiply the length times the width of the garden area to see how many square feet you need to cover. Doing this will help you determine how much lime or fertilizer to purchase.
You may read here and there that if your soil has a low pH, you should add lime, and if your soil has a high pH, you should add sulfur, but the pH number itself doesn’t tell the whole story. It