Local gardeners who like to grow their own fresh fruit can often be frustrated with traditional crops like apples, cherries, plums and peaches. Our mild winters, high summer heat and humidity can make it difficult to grow these plants successfully, even for the best gardeners. However, a number of plants thrive in our climate and produce delicious fruit. Some also possess a visitor’s surprising beauty, with or without fruit, and they can be added directly to your landscape, mixing right in with all your other ornamental trees and shrubs.
One of the most familiar such fruits is the common fig (Ficus carica), native to the Mediterranean basin. Gardeners in coastal Virginia are fortunate that we can grow this without dragging pots in and out for the winter, as many people farther north must do. Not only does this fig provide abundant delicious fruit, but its bold, attractive leaves will add an unusual touch to the landscape. While figs can typically grow to 20 or 30 feet tall, there are a number of smaller selections that might be more suitable for smaller gardens.
Gardeners who like bold color should grow pomegranates (Punica granatum). The flowers are an intense red-orange and bloom through much of the late spring into early summer. The orange fruits, showy and attractive in their own right, ripen in late summer to early fall. The fleshy seeds produce a lot of juice and are high in vitamin C, antioxidants and potassium. Originally native to western Asia, they are now grown around the world in warmer climates, where their smaller size (6 to 20 feet tall) makes them easy to fit into many landscapes. Good-looking and good for you.
Loquats (Eriobotrya japonica) are grown primarily for their evergreen, tropical-looking foliage and their clusters of ivory flowers, which typically bloom between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The flowers are also sweetly scented, enough to perfume an entire garden. Native to China and Japan, the 10- to 15-foot-tall plant is sometimes called Japanese plum, though it is not actually a plum. However, the spring-ripening, golden orange fruit has a similar delicious sweet-tart flavor. Local gardeners should consider the fruit a bonus, since loquats will produce fruit here only in mild winters, even though the plant is hardy.
Also evergreen, pineapple guava (Acca sellowiana) can be grown as an attractive screening plant and an alternative to some of the more common hedges. It’s native from southern Brazil to northern Argentina; in our climate it typically grows about 6 to 8 feet tall, has attractive silvery foliage and, being salt tolerant, is a good choice for coastal conditions. The flowers are unusual and showy, with bright red stamens over white petals. The fruit ripens in late summer to early fall with a flavor reminiscent of Juicy Fruit gum, and you know it is ripe when it falls off the shrub: no guesswork.
Although we have our own native persimmon (Diospyros virginiana), if you want something a little different, consider the easy-to-grow Asian persimmon (Diospyros kaki). Although the flowers are not very showy, the fruit certainly is. It ripens in the fall, covering the tree with 3- to 4-inch berries that are a bright orange. About the same time, the foliage turns shades of yellow, red, orange and burgundy before dropping. The fruit will persist after the foliage, like so many mini-pumpkins hanging on bare branches. There are two types of Asian persimmons. Those with astringent fruit are like our native ones in that they need a good cold spell to be edible. Then the gelatinous flesh becomes incredibly sweet and can be eaten with a spoon or used in desserts. The nonastringent varieties have fruit that is crunchy and can be eaten fresh like an apple or cut and added to salads. Asian persimmons vary in size, but most will grow in the 10- to 30-foot range.
With fall being the best time to plant and just around the corner, now is a good time to consider something that will add unusual edible beauty to your landscape.
Wild Green Yonder is a monthly feature from the staff of the Norfolk Botanical Garden, where Les Parks is the director of horticulture. Send gardening questions to askaplantquestion@nbgs.org.
