YOU CAN HAVE your garden and eat it, too. Allow edible crops to share the garden with your favorite ornamental plantings.
Flowering apple, pear, plum and other fruiting trees produce beautiful floral displays that rival those of ornamental spring-blooming trees, plus their beauty and flavor return year after year. But few urban gardens have room for an orchard, and most gardeners are fiercely protective of sunny plots where they grow ripe strawberries, plush herbs and other edible crops.
But not all fruit trees need a lot of space. Once a curiosity, non-branching columnar apple and pear trees have proved to be a small-space, sun-saving boon, as well as a striking design element in the landscape. Tuck a couple into a bed where you’re looking for vertical interest or plant a row as a stylish and productive living hedge. Look for varieties in the Urban Apple series like Tasty Red, Blushing Delight, Tangy Green and Golden Treat (Malus domestica) that ripen fruit in mid- to late summer.
These naturally dwarf trees grow just 8 to 10 feet tall and only 2 feet wide, producing a generous harvest of full-size fruit on spurs that emerge along a central trunk. But be advised: Like most standard apple and pear trees, columnar forms need to be cross pollinated by different, compatible varieties that bloom at the same time to produce a successful crop.
Espaliered trees are a time-honored approach to growing fruit in limited space, making them a beautiful and practical solution for home gardens. Traditionally young trees, or whips, are pruned in a two-dimensional plane, such as along a wall, fence or trellis. The form takes years to mature and begin producing but a mature espalier is a work of art.
For a dramatic design element and fruit in far less time, skip years of training and plant a grafted espalier. Most local nurseries sell two- or three-tier apple and pear espaliers that come grafted with compatible varieties that will cross pollinate.
If apples and pears don’t appeal, try cherries. Anyone with an enormous, aged cherry tree knows that fruit produced on the highest branches delights the birds but complicates harvesting. So go for a tree that won’t get too tall. Montmorency cherry (Prunus cerasus ‘Montmorency’) produces a crop of tart ruby red fruit in August — think pie! The self-fertile tree grows just 12- to 14-feet tall and as wide.
Raintree Nursery (raintreenursery.com), a mail order nursery in Morton, Lewis County, and a valuable resource for all sorts of fruit trees, berries and other edible crops, sells a mini-dwarf ‘Montmorency’ cherry that matures at only 8-feet tall and can be grown in a large container, such as a half barrel.
With large palmate leaves and sugar-bomb fruit in late summer Lattarula fig (Ficus carica ‘Lattarula’), also known as the Italian Honey Fig, lends a tropical vibe to ornamental gardens. The tree grows 10- to 15-feet tall but may be kept shorter with diligent pruning in summer to keep ripe fruit within picking reach. The tree’s fragrant leaves are an unexpected secondary harvest. Wrap a filet of fish in a leaf before grilling or add to a pot of steamed rice to infuse the finished dish with a warm coconutlike aroma and flavor.
Fruiting vines trained on structures, walls and fences beautifully unite the landscape with architectural features, just as woody ornamental vines do. Like their ornamental counterparts, fruiting vines require seasonal pruning, which ought to inform their placement in the garden.
Site grapes in full sun and train the deciduous woody vine on a sturdy structure, such as up a supporting post of a deck or over a beefy arbor within easy reach for pruning in summer and winter. Canadice seedless grape (Vitis labrusca ´ vinifera ‘Canadice’) is a table grape with sweet pink fruit that ripens in late September even during the occasional cool growing season in Western Washington.
Hardy kiwi (Actinidia arguta) produces a bountiful crop of small fuzz-free green or red kiwis in early fall. The vigorous vines grow to 30 feet and are an excellent candidate for obscuring a chain-link fence while keeping the clusters of fruit within easy harvesting reach. However, because fruiting female vines requires a male pollinator, you’ll need to make room for two giant vines.
Prized for its bold foliage, Arctic Beauty male kiwi (Actinidia kolomikta ‘Pasha’) lights up partially shady corners of the garden with showy pink and white variegated foliage. Now available in a fruiting female form, September Sun Kolomikta (A. kolomikta ‘September Sun’) offers the same foliar impact and produces clusters of grape-sized fruit when grown with a male kolomikta kiwi for pollination.
Lorene Edwards Forkner is the author of the newly published “Grow Great Vegetables in Washington.” Find her at ahandmadegarden.com and at Cultivating Color on Substack.
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