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  • From: "Brungardt, Sam" <Sam.Brungardt@state.mn.us>
  • To: <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Lee Reich article about shrubs, small trees with edible fruit
  • Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2005 16:08:17 -0600

Title: Lee Reich article about shrubs, small trees with edible fruit

Shrubs and small trees with edible fruit
02:16 PM CST on Thursday, January 20, 2005
By LEE REICH / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
The word extraordinary is too rarely applied to fruit plants.  Look beyond apples, peaches and other common fruits, and you'll find a number of easy-to-grow uncommon selections that are highly ornamental, as well as bearers of fruits with unique and delectable flavors.

(photos deleted)
Juneberry
Take, for example, the native plant known as juneberry (Amelanchier spp.) but also parading under such aliases as shadbush and serviceberry.  The fruit is a blueberry look-alike, and juneberry is often billed as a "blueberry" for gardens lacking the very acidic, humus-rich soils that true blueberries demand.  Juneberries tolerate a wide range of soils, and the fruits have their own unique flavor.  They are sweet and juicy with the richness of sweet cherry and a hint of almond.

Although they are uncommon fruits, juneberries are not uncommon plants.  These shrubs or small trees are frequently grown as landscape plants.  The flamboyant show begins in spring with pink or white flowers and ends in autumn as the leaves ignite in shades of purple, orange and yellow.  The plant even earns its keep through winter, when its smooth, gray bark is livened by charcoal-gray striations. Aside from sun, juneberry requires little care.

Jujube
Jujube (Ziziphus jujuba) originated in China but has been grown in Texas for more than 100 years; still, too many people neither know nor grow the plant.  This plant was valued here right from the start for both its beauty and its bounty.  Jujube is a small tree – rarely more than 30 feet high – with small, glossy leaves and a naturally drooping habit that is accentuated when the branches are weighed down with fruits.

Despite the widespread planting of jujube trees over the past hundred years, say "jujube" and most people think of a fruit-flavored gumdrop.  Those original candies were jujube fruits boiled in sugar syrup and then allowed to dry.

The tree is sometimes called Chinese date because of the fruits' resemblance to dates in appearance, texture and flavor.  When just ripe, the fruit's skin is the color of mahogany and as shiny and smooth, as if buffed with a cloth.  At this stage, the flesh is crisp and sweet, reminiscent of apple.  If the fruit ripens a bit longer, the skin begins to wrinkle as the fruit loses water, and the flesh changes from light green to beige and becomes spongy and datelike.

Recognizing jujube for its tolerance to both heat and drought, the federal government, as long as 150 years ago, began distributing jujube seedlings throughout the southern tier of states, especially in the Southwest.  The first named varieties were introduced about 100 years ago, and today a number of varieties are available.  'Li' and 'Lang' are two of the most popular.

Raisin tree
Probably the most unusual of uncommon fruits comes from the raisin tree (Hovenia dulcis).  This medium-to-large tree, native to China's moist glens and mountains, resembles our American basswood.  The flowers, opening quite late, are cream-colored and compensate for their small size by being borne in large, frothy clusters.  The tree enjoys full sun and will grow in almost any soil.

This fruit is extraordinary for being so rarely planted and because the edible portion is really the stems that bear the flowers and the fruits.  Unlike other fruits, the raisin tree's stalks swell into gnarled, chewy masses that live up to the tree's common name in appearance and taste.  When ripe, the stems are reddish and slightly shriveled with a sweet, slightly astringent flavor that is more reminiscent of candied walnut or Asian pear than of raisin.  The harvest takes place in autumn and is not to be rushed, because unripe stalks taste no better than any other fruit stalk.  Besides good taste, these stalks are also credited, in China, with overcoming the effects of large quantities of alcohol.

Pawpaw
How about growing bananas year round in your garden?  Not real bananas, but a fruit that resembles banana in many ways, except that the plant tolerates extreme cold.  Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) is an American native that has been called "poor man's banana" because of its creamy white flesh and flavor – banana along with vanilla custard, mango and pineapple.  The fruits are borne in clusters of up to nine, their skins become speckled black as ripening occurs, and they can be picked underripe to ripen indoors.

Plant two or more different varieties of pawpaw to ensure cross-pollination.  In addition to the fruits, enjoy the tropical look that the large, lush leaves add to the landscape.  The trees shed their tropical associations in autumn, when those leaves change color to a beautifully clear yellow.  Harvest is in late summer or fall.

Finding fruits
As any gardener who yearns for the unusual has discovered, small specialty nurseries are often the most fruitful resources.  If you rely on a mail-order source for uncommon fruit trees, you can plant container-grown specimens almost any time of year (except during our overheated summers).  The winter months are ideal for planting bare-root purchases, when the plants are dormant.

Lee Reich, Ph.D., is the author of Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden (Timber Press, 2004, $24.95) and Weedless Gardening (Workman Publishing, 2001, $8.95).

MAIL-ORDER RESOURCES
Burnt Ridge Nursery. 360-985-2873, www.burntridgenursery.com
Edible Landscaping Nursery.  Free catalog at 1-800-524-4156, 434-361-9134 or www.eat-it.com
Forestfarm. Free catalog at 541-846-7269 or www.forestfarm.com
Hidden Springs Nursery.  Catalog $1 at hiddenspringsnursery.com or 170 Hidden Springs Lane, Cookeville, TN 38501. 931-268-2592

Just Fruits and Exotics.  Catalog, $3, at 30 St. Francis St., Crawfordville, FL 32327; www.justfruitsandexotics.com; 850-926-5644

One Green World. Free catalog at 1-877-353-4028, 503-651-3005 or www.onegreenworld.com
Raintree Nursery.  Free catalog at 360-496-6400 or www.raintreenursery.com

Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/texasliving/stories/012105dnlivhgfruits.7a6f7.html




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