For those who live on the American continent:
What unusual native plants do you grow that can be eaten? (Exclude “usual” foods from the Americas that one can get in a big box store: apples, blueberries, tomatoes, potatoes etc). Feel free to include fruit, veg, spices, herbs.
I’m looking for what to add to my yard (Zone 6B) or as an indoor plant - but no need to limit it to my situation, I love to hear what others have going on!
Not sure how unusual it is, and I haven’t grown them yet but planting tubers as soon as they arrive but Jerusalem Artichokes, good native food crop that pollinators also love
Looks like you’re far east of me, so what’s native here isn’t necessarily native to where you are… but for what it’s worth, I grow yerba buena, a mint-like plant that grows in the oak forests nearby (I’m in San Francisco Bay Area in California). It likes some shade, has drought tolerance (given that there is fog), and has a trailing habit that can sprawl out as a ground cover. The leaves are heavenly mint, a very sweet and clean mint taste with no grassiness. I collect mints and this is a favorite.
In my opinion anything that grows on my land without protection to be native at this point. The only things that are ‘invasive’ seem to be the things that birds and things that live on my land like to eat… so they are welcome to provide their own food forests and habitats.
while they are ‘usual’ here in this forum of obsessed fruit growers… to most of my community and honestly to most folks Persimmons and Pawpaws, Figs and Mulberries are unusual.
If i may step outside of the lines… I really only grow unusual cultivars for the most part. Cultivars which have been lost…or are hard to find. Almost no cultivar i grow can be found in box stores and most not in the nursery trade.
I grow alot of Elderberry cultivars but i dont plan on eating them…the birds seem to really enjoy them and im ok if they spread the seeds wherever they want.
I grow some hazels… the wildlife seem to want them more than me which is ok.
Im getting into Haskaps… they do well here so they are native to me now.
Garlic- most of my garlics are from all over the globe… they grow here well so to me they are now native.
I try to do polyculture the best that i can and i am ok with nature taking its share… which is ‘Unusual’.
you said to exclude tomatoes etc that you can get from big box store…but none of the tomatoes i grow can be bought from any store or roadside stand i dont think… they are heirlooms.
I am in 6B/7 depending on the climate change thing… There are many figs that you can grow in ground… which is my newest unusual thing.
Lots of hybrid persimmons which were bred here in the US…so they must be ‘native’.
My Egyptian onions were brought from Europe almost 200 years ago… im not sure my family has been here that long… so Egyptian Onions are more native to the Americas than I am.
I also grow some aronias, gooseberries, lots of nuts, currants, serviceberry, sumacs, blackhaw etc etc… but i am a birder… and most of them are not for me.
I think most of my chestnuts are Chinese and Heartnuts are from Japan… my dad planted them 50 years ago so they are native to me. He was massively into nuts… i am not.
I let sassafras grow, i have 2 full size trees and the starts go to the goats, or we plan on brewing some one of these days, if we are able to. Idk if unusual but i promote a lot of burdock as fodder and pollinator food.
Native to what part of the Americas? Many species are only native in limited areas, and most of the native species of the Americas (percentage-wise) are found in the tropical Amazon basin and would not be suitable for your area. Here are just a few of the plants I’m growing that are native to “the Americas,” though:
Avocados are native to Mexico mostly, but I’m trying them here. Definitely not for your zone.
The trailing blackberry (Rubus ursinus) is native here in the PNW and I’m growing that, but not sure if it counts as unusual. It should be able to handle your zone (just), but you might prefer improved selections rather than the wild form.
There are a few species of hazelnut, including a couple that are native to different parts of the North American continent, and those do volunteer here sometimes (thanks squirrels!), but so far I haven’t decided whether I want to keep any of them. You should be able to grow some of them at least.
Feijoa is native to the southern part of the Americas, and I’m growing that, but it is not likely to work for you.
Luma apiculata is native to the Chilean highlands, and might be hardy enough to survive there too, but I don’t know. I’ve never seen freeze damage (lowest temperature was only 16°F though), and it even flushes new growth in winter.
Maypop (Passiflora incarnata) is native to much of eastern North America, you should be able to grow that, though it may be hard to contain. I’ve not had much luck with it here, I think we don’t get enough summer warmth, they just stay small and runty, and get feasted on by slugs and snails during the wet season.
I grow staghorn sumac for the berries to grind into spice. I’ve also got a struggling patch of Jerusalem artichokes.
I grow prairie sage but it’s not so much edible as just air freshener. I’ve planted a patch of pawpaw, native plum, and hazelnut too.
edit: I’m also trying to get some ostrich fern going in a shady spot I’ve got, but they won’t take
I have wild DV persimmons here on my place that I harvest yearly… and several varieties of Hickory trees… but only 2 that are worth harvesting Shagbark and Mocker. Also have several wild muscadine vines… and lots of wild blackberry… deerberry, sarvis (some call service berry), carolina buckthorn. Redbuds (flowers are edible).
Thousands of white, post, red, black, chestnut … Oaks… lots of acorns and hickory nuts this year.
Wild greens… dandelion, broadleaf and english plantain, stinging nettles, pink and yellow sorrel, polk (as in polk salad).
Medicinal /other … ginseng, goldenseal, mayapple, blue and black cohosh, bainberry, true and false Solomon seal.
Are they Egyptian walking onions? I planted some of those but they didn’t make it through the lawn conversion to clover.
You’re in 6B too - which figs have made it for you? Chicago Hardy? Which persimmons?
Neither of these are too unusual, but burdock and Saskatoon berry are the main things I have right now. I had a large blackcap raspberry bush last year but it was going on a rampage so I had to take it out.
I’m hoping to put in a patch of nettles next year, and should eventually get a thimbleberry patch just by letting the volunteers come up in my newly cleared orchard and defending them from other plants.
How do you eat Jerusalem artichokes? Do they taste like potatoes?
Thanks! For sure my definition of native has gotten broader with time. This is a big continent!
But I figure that there’s at least a chance that the insects and other critters that have co-evolved with plants could move around the continent, in a way that they can’t across oceans. It’s a theory.
I’m excited to see how your avocado trial works!
I hadn’t heard of feijoa - good luck with that, they look delicious.
I have maypop seeds but am nervous about spread into neighbors’ yards so haven’t planted them yet.
Chilean myrtle is beautiful!
Thanks for sharing!
I had never heard of thimbleberries. Thornless sounds nice. How’s the flavor?
I was just looking at ostrich fern! Great minds.
Yeah you cook them like potatoes, and they store indefinitely in the ground so you can harvest them when you need them. Theoretically a great survival food, I have yet to eat them but I have high hopes haha.
I generally just call it “luma” because “Chilean myrtle” could refer to a few species. I’ll be pruning mine at some point in the next month if you want cuttings. I found them to root easily when just stuck in the ground over the winter here, but that may be less true in 6b. I posted my latest offer here:
https://growingfruit.org/t/luma-apiculata-cutting-giveaway/34347/60?u=swincher
I find their texture a little strange tbh, and they tend to make you rather… gassy… because of the indigestible inulin content. Heard them called “fartichokes” before, found it to be an accurate nickname.
I like them- but I’m careful about them. I make them mixed 1:4 into mashed potatoes and not in a big quantity of mash at a time. I will only harvest them after a hard frost or three also, preferably after first freeze. mellows them out a little.
they taste pretty good. if you’ve ever eaten sunflower flour they’ve got that same nutty, green flavor.
Thimbleberries are delicious imho, a bit tart but they have a very unique, intense flavor. However, they don’t produce much. You might get a handful of berries off a large bush if you’re lucky. Hence I’m not planning to put a lot of effort into cultivating them as a crop, just encourage some patches where I can.
The key is to cook them with some acid - like roasting or boiling with lemon juice, or pickling. Breaks up the inulin.
I forgot to say i have a patch going too
