Landscaping with Fruit

Description

Fruit trees, shrubs, and vines are true two-for-one plants. Many varieties are strikingly beautiful - well suited to doing double duty as delicious sources of sweet, organic fruit and as ornamental additions to the home landscape. Home grown fruit plants also tie in perfectly with the growing locavore movement. It's difficult to find food that's more local than one's own garden. 'Luscious landscaping,' as author Lee Reich calls it, takes fruit-bearing plants off the commercial farm and replants the prettiest and tastiest specimens in suburban and rural yards. Spring blossoms, summer and fall fruit, and the year-round presence of the plants themselves bring a special magic to the home landscape. Pillowy pink blossoms on peach branches or the bright orange fruit of persimmon trees perk up their surroundings with color and drama. Beautiful plants, yes, but these landscaping additions also provide sweet, nutritious fruit. Homegrown, organic varieties bear almost no resemblance to commercially produced fruits, which are bred and selected to withstand shipping and refrigerated storage conditions. It's hard to believe that Alpine strawberries and those grown in California and shipped across the country are even related!

Dr. Lee Reich dove into gardening with one foot in academia as an agricultural scientist with the USDA and Cornell University. He is an author, consultant, speaker, and columnist for the Associated Press. His goal is to get more people to grow more food sustainably and organically.