The strawberries, especially this yellow alpine I have I think maybe Yellow Wonder? It does a good job of keeping weeds out. (so i don’t mulch) Very few, easy to hand pick. The only plant I heard suggested at a base of a tree is arugula. I have some seeds, may try it. I in general keep mine mulched. Also annual plants won’t get in the way of mulching in the fall at least.
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My So is probably the largest jujube I have. Its about the same age as yours and it is easily 10 feet tall. My Honey Jar (or is it Sugar Cane, I have both and can barely tell which is which) is about 8 feet tall and pretty crowded, so though its the same age as So it has not really kept up with it.
Drew, my Red Dragon was showing blight infection (I had 4 other hazels including a regular contorted which were infected). Currently RD is 4 inches tall and has 3 fat buds on it. I’m going to fertilize it like crazy and see if I can get it to a foot by next fall. (or I may just bite the bullet and replace it)
Scott
That’s interesting- my So is the only one planted at that time, so I don’t really have anything to compare it to. But, in nursery descriptions, they describe it as dwarfed. Maybe location.environment makes a bigger difference than normal. But, 10’ after 7 years is still a pretty dwarf tree (I’ve had dwarf apples get there in year #2). Maybe all jujubes are dwarfed in cooler climates.
I have blackberries near a few of my trees. I guess I’ll find out if it affects the trees in the next few years.
I have to admit I chuckled enough reading this that I spit some of my coffee onto my desk. lol
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Careful karma’s a bitch! 
Yes, you mentioned it, and I decided to skip them. So thanks! The quince is care free and should take care of my desires to have a contorted type. I think I will just juice the fruit, it’s not that good. Others too have better looking flowers. Quince is probably sold more for the flowers.
I look forward to the juice though. I also put in a golden currant, and a pink flowered thimbleberry. I have one of these at the cottage, the canes are few, but the leaves are big, and so are the flowers, it has ornamental value. This is one that fruits too. I put these three in the front flower garden. They send me a bunch of the pink thimbleberries and also white flowered ones. I wanted them for the cottage, but enough was sent to put some in the front, and back here. I made it to my cottage and planted them there already. Where’s that gooseberry? They should mail soon. Chills, your fungicide is on the way btw.
I owe you a coffee!
It’s not working! The tree looks fine!
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If you plant perennial bulbs around the base of a tree, you will risk damaging the feeder roots when you dig them up (if you dig them up). If you have perennial plants that you do not plan to dig out then there are many theories of thought on possible benefits and detriments.
Water for example: in arid climates planting perennials around the base of a tree will leach of some of the water used to water the tree, and since water is an expensive commodity in these areas, this seems like a bad idea. However, there is also the school of thought that if you water the perennial plant in addition to the tree, then some of the water used in these plants will pass beyond their reach and will actually aid the tree. I first heard this idea in regards to homeowners that are killing off their lawns and arborists were finding that the trees growing near or in the lawns were suffering from reduction in water availability.
Nutrition has similar results to water. If you regularly overfertilize your flowers, then your tree may benefit from the fertilizer. But if you are underfertilizing your tree and then add the additional plants, then your tree will start to be stressed for nutrients.
All plants can attract pest insects, diseases and nematodes (microscopic worms. Some are parasites to plants) If a particular bug is attracted to your tree, and also enjoys the plants under your tree, then it is quite possible that you may spray your tree and become immediately reinfested. However, there are some plants that attract predatory insects that will feed on the pests. I have observed many predatory wasps flying around my mint plants. It should be noted that these plants will have the pest bugs in them. Predatory insects don’t find their favorite plants and sit there to ward off bad bugs. They are there to eat, so there has to be a food source. However, it has been observed that certain insects are attract to some plants more than others, especially for egg laying purposes. And if you so happen to have a beneficially bug that happens to lay eggs all over some bushes that are right under a tree full of its favorite food pest, then that’s not so bad. Unfortunately, things are not so simple. Pests populations always increase before their natural predators’ populations increase. Cold weather may delay the predators from populating fast enough the overcome the pest populations. And it gets more and more complex.
I would say that generally, attracting predatory insects is a positive. (if you use pesticides, then you may kill off the predatory insects and only leave the pests on these plants.)
I saw allelopathy mentioned in an earlier post. (allelopathy is when a plant puts out chemicals that harm other types of plants. This is to eliminate competition). I don’t normally hear about small plants effecting trees in this way, though I suppose it could be possible. Normally I hear about trees using allelopathy to kill all the new vegetation under its canopy. In other words, if you have a pine tree you would have a difficult time getting flower to grown under it. I used to have a California Pepper tree and I wondered if it had this property, since very few plants would grow under it. Note: trees tend to release these chemicals through their roots or through their leaves. When the chemical is in the leaves, then it will effect other plants by the gradual dropping and decomposition of the leaves into the soil. The soil becomes toxic to other plants.
Shade is a great benefit to growing plants under a tree. If you have limited shade to grow the types of plants you desire, or the sun seems to have a severe effect on your plants because of your climate, then this may give you more options. If you are worried about allelopathy then consider putting potted plants under your tree. Make sure to take the fallen leaves out of your pots.before they decompose.
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Yes, California pepper trees are highly allelopathic, this is a well established fact.
I planted mint under a peach tree. for 8 years now, that tree doesn’t have borer problem. I also planted mugwort near the base of my J.plum, apricot ,not sure on what rootstocks. No evidence of borer so far. I think some plants help control pests in the yard
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I planted walking onions at the bottom of some young pawpaw…
" Using them as fertility indicator plants,"
If the onions look real good , I think it is going to be fertile enough for the pawpaw.
And the onions are earlier , such that they are 2-3ft. Tall now. And the pawpaw are just leafing out.
So any onions that are not up to par I will adjust fertility early.
I often use vegetables as fertility indicators for trees.
Most of us know what a healthy vegetable plant looks like.
Trees ,…often not so much
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I do the same with volunteer garlics from the garden. Not as a fertility indicator, but to deter bugs and rodents. Not sure if it works, but it puts the volunteer garlics to good use.
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I think allium are great around fruit trees, might deter pests, good bloom for the bees. There’s chives,walking onion, welsh onion, garlic around some trees here. I am planting out ramps under my plums this spring.
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I’ve got strawberries, alliums, mint, flower bulbs, other herbs all growing under trees.
Doesn’t seem to be bothering the trees.
My favorite is allium ursinum.
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I’ve become a big fan of an approach which could be dubbed “landscaping with onions”. Here is a section of my little espalier row from the other day. You can see perennial leeks (thanks @TheLoud !), chives, garlic chives here. Along with perennial Sorrel, which is great this time of year for salads, tulips, daffodils, and muscari. The blooming tree here is mostly Ashmead’s with two branches of Pitmaston Pineapple and a top made of Chestnut. The really young tree is a Redfield I planted last year to replace an Opalescent killed by Fireblight. I grafted a piece of Hoople’s on it, hopefully it will take.
I have a ton of chives everywhere, which I consider to be the perfect landscape plant. Comes up early in spring, pretty foliage, lovely purple flowers later, doesn’t get too big or too weedy, and is nice to eat. I just cut myself a bucket the other day to make into chive kimchi, and last night we had quesadillas with loads of chives cut up in them.
Elsewhere in the espalier bed I have a stretch of egyptian onions and a stretch of welsh onions. These are great too because they look good in spring, have cool flowers (or bulblets in the case of egyptians), and are good to eat. I never thought I could eat that many green onions, but if you roast them with olive oil and salt it is not hard to eat a whole armload in a sitting. You can see a bit of the young egyptian onions, mixed with daffodils and sage, at the foot of this Roxbury Russet with a variety my friend’s dad found on top. The egyptians do get a bit too tall for my bottom wire later in the season but it isn’t a big deal.
Wish I could take back the horseradish I planted in this bed; it gets too big. But it is hard to get rid of it! Still trying to eradicate the columbine I had in here years ago too.
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What’s the matter with the columbine?
Well, the type I had was not great looking and it was terrible for spreading its seeds everywhere. The seedlings were hard to pull out too; the root was thick and the tops broke off easily when pulled, leaving the root to come back again later. It is still all in my garden paths, asparagus, and the espalier bed.
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Doing an experiment this year, planted goumi berries in between trees in one of my rows and interplanted rhubarb amongst it all. I read a report that goumis can increase yields up to 10%, and the huge rhubarb leaves should help shade out weeds. We shall see.
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