Cold-Hardy Fruits and Nuts: 50 Easy-to-Grow Plants for the Organic Home Garden or Landscape

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After planting, expect it to take 2-3 years before you receive any sizable harvest, but they’re worth the wait. While waiting, blueberry bushes are attractive, with leaves turning several shades in the fall. Note: This publication doesn’t recommend specific pesticides. Recommendations and regulations change frequently. See your local Extension agent or local garden store personnel. Also, see EC 631, Managing Diseases and Insects in Home Orchards (see “For more information”). A hybrid of butternuts and heartnuts, this tree is often mistaken for the native butternut. Since it’s resistant to the butternut canker that’s devastating the native butternut trees this hybrid is often used to replace dying butternut trees. Hybrid vigor means that buartnut trees actually grow faster and produce more nuts than either heartnuts or butternuts, so this tree is a good productive and disease-free choice. Chestnuts (Castanea sp.) Often known as wolfberries, goji berries are a hardy berry plant that grows in most USDA zones and handle drought conditions well. The berry plants produce bright orange/red fruits that have a slightly sour flavor. Goji berries are highly sought after and considered a superfood because they boost your immune system. Serviceberry trees prefer loam soil but tolerate sandy and clay soil. They grow best in well-draining soil with a pH range from 5.5 to 7.0.

While tart, Beach Plums are rich in antioxidants and can be turned into delicious jams. Some use these fruits in cordials and wines.

Fruit appears on the shrubs between August and September in abundance. Buffalo berries are scarlet-red or golden-yellow and have a tart flavor that tastes great when used in relishes or jelly. Besides fruit production, adding buffalo berries to your property gives you a winter hardy and drought tolerant plant that can also fix your soil’s nitrogen issues. This deciduous, fast-growing tree is quite a drought, soil, and pollution tolerant. Cold hardiness depends on the cultivar and species you are growing, fully established trees are cold hardy to at least 0 F. Note: European plums are cold-hardy to zone 5, American hybrids to zone 3-4, and Japanese plums are hardy to zone 6. 6. Cherry Silverberry Lingonberries grow densely and can be harvested by raking. Bushes produce large amounts of small, deep ruby-colored, tart berries. They’re similar to cranberries in taste and uses. If you grow large quantities, not only can you make jams and condiments, you can also freeze them for use later.

Allyson Levy and Scott Serrano are consummate gardeners and artists. They bring horticultural prowess and designer insights to this beautiful, easy-to-use, and easy-to-read book. Their in-depth research and hands-on knowledge are invaluable to those looking to expand their palette of plants. Featuring taste profiles, landscape tips, and propagation techniques, Cold-Hardy Fruits and Nuts is my new go-to guide for growing these plants. It is wonderful to see native trees and shrubs included with such enthusiasm and appreciation.” —Marc Wolf, executive director, Mountain Top Arboretum Many apricot trees are hardy to zone 3, but they’re still not common here in Central Vermont. I asked a nurseryman why, and he told me they don’t do well here because of our wet summers. Apricots are susceptible to fungal diseases, and they do better with less humidity and heavy rains. Nonetheless, we’re trying a few out. The cottonwood nut is a monoecious tree that grows wind pollinated. In the winter, pecan trees should be grown in a temperature range of 45 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit, but they can also be grown in temperatures as low as 20 degrees. Georgia, New Mexico, and Texas are the three states with the most pecans per acre. This tree has a disease-resistant, drought-tolerant, and moderately growing habit, thanks to its long, white leaves and carya illinoinensis. At maturity, the majority of pecan trees grow to heights of 70 to 100 feet. The presence of aphids, pecans weevils, twig girdlers, and fall webworms is a potential issue. scab can affect both nuts and foliage, but scab resistant varieties are available. Korean Stone Nut Tree is an attractive tree with plenty of dark-green needles and large, delicious nuts most commonly gathered in Korea and eastern Russia. Korean Stone Pine Nuts have a rich, delicious taste while being full of nutrients. This Midwest native tree received its name because of its bark that has a shaggy appearance. The bark peels away in large, curving plates. It’s most commonly found in the Chicago area and other similar places in North America, reaching mature heights of 60-80 feet.In some states, Chinese chestnut trees are grown regularly, such as Iowa. You have to add at least two different trees to your property to produce an adequate harvest. The trees need healthy, fertile soil with good drainage. Space the trees around 30 feet apart; they grow wide. Medlars are another ancient old world fruit, with not much modern-day interest. The fruits are not edible until “bletted” by a hard frost or by waiting beyond norm Growing butternut trees require well-draining soil and full sunlight, but they adapt well to most conditions. They reach up to 60 feet wide, so space everything else around your trees appropriately. This cold-hardy, deciduous shrub grows up to 15-30 feet in acidic to neutral, rich organic, well-draining moist soil in full sun to partial shade. The fruit is sweet and has a tropical pudding-like taste. 25. Apricot