Many landscape plants produce edible fruits or flowers, so planting them can significantly increase your capacity for food production in an average home yard. And some vegetables and herbs can make beautiful bedding plants when moved out of kitchen garden and into the landscape or planted in containers.
Here is a list of good edible plants for the Treasure Valley. Most are available at local garden centers or through mail-order catalogs. The parts you eat are listed in parenthesis for some of the more unusual ones.
Fruit and Nut Trees: Almonds, apricots, apple, Asian pear, cherry, chokecherry, crabapple, juniper (berries), hazelnut, nectarine, peach, pear, persimmon, plum, red mulberry and black or hardy English walnut.
Shrubs and vines: American plum, blackberry, currant, hardy kiwi, elderberry, gooseberry, hops (flowers), jostaberry, lilac, Nanking cherry, Oregon grape (berries), quince, raspberry, rose (petals and hips), saskatoon or Juneberry and wine and table grapes.
Perennial plants: Anise hyssop, artichoke, asparagus, cardoon, catnip, chamomile, chive, culinary sage, daylily (blossoms), Egyptian walking onions, horehound, horseradish (roots), Jerusalem artichoke (tubers), lavender (flowers), lemon balm, lovage, mints, oregano, rhubarb (stems only), savory, sorrel, strawberry, tarragon and thyme.
Edible annual flowers: Anise hyssop, African marigold, borage, calendula, chive, daylily, dianthus or pinks, English daisy, hollyhock, lavender, lilac, nasturtium, pansy or Johnny jump-up, scarlet runner bean, scented geranium (leaves and flowers) and tuberous begonia.
Attractive annual vegetables and herbs: Basil, Brussels sprouts, cabbages, cilantro, cucumber, dill, eggplant, fennel, garlic, gourds, greens, ground cherry, kale, kohlrabi, leek, lettuce, okra, onion, parsley, peas, peppers, runner beans, sweet potato, Swiss chard, tomatillo and tomato.
What to consider when creating an edible landscape? The best landscapes, edible or otherwise, are the result of thoughtful planning, good design, hard work and regular maintenance.
You should only eat flowers you can correctly identify, and that you know have never been treated with pesticides. Start with a small taste in case you have an unknown allergy.
If you employ a landscape care company or do a little spraying here and there yourself, you will need to pay extra close attention to what is applied, and how, when and where it is used. Many common weeds are close relatives of our favorite garden vegetables, so keep weed killers far away from vegetables and annual flowers in particular! Also, most commonly applied lawn and tree insecticides are not legally labeled for use on or near edible plants.
• Ariel Agenbroad, M.S., is an Extension Educator in horticulture and small farms for the University of Idaho Extension in Canyon County. To learn more or share your ideas, call 459-6003, visit uidaho.edu/extension/canyon or subscribe to Ariel’s blog at growvandals.wordpress.com.
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