Native Plant Gardening

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According to the The National Audubon Society:

Restoring native plant habitat is vital to preserving biodiversity. By creating a native plant garden, each patch of habitat becomes part of a collective effort to nurture and sustain the living landscape for birds and other animals.

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Southwest Ohio Native Fruit Garden (self.nativeplantgardening)

submitted 3 months ago by SlippiHUD to c/[email protected]

9 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I'm currently hunting down pawpaw trees, Blueberry bushes, black raspberry, and other native fruits for my garden.

Looking for suggestions.

I looked into black cherries, but they get too large and too easily wind damaged for the proximity I'd have to plant them to my house.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

idk if theyll be suitable for your situation, but here's some native ohio fruits im aware of:

definitely seconding the pawpaw trees! the fruit tastes so good and im looking on getting some trees myself
diospyros virginiana (american persimmon)
amelanchier arborea (common serviceberry) and amelanchier canadensis (canadian serviceberry)
prunus virginiana (chokecherry)
prunus pensylvanica (pin cherry) is another native cherry, but probably has the same issues black cherries give you

(the ohio pawpaw festival is coming up this weekend btw! theres always people selling not just pawpaw fruits, but pawpaw trees and other native plants there.)

[–] SlippiHUD 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I got 2 saplings at the festival. From different vendors so it's incredibly unlikely they're related. They're already planted and doing well, they survived the windstorm from Helene undamaged.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

yes! that's awesome and i hope you had fun!

[–] SlippiHUD 2 points 3 months ago

It was a very cool festival, I'm now considering driving to WV for the Chestnut Festival.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

It's not native but I remember my grandparents had a pear tree that did well and stayed relatively small in Eastern PA.

And if space is the only issue for the cherries, you could look into Espalier, training it to grow flat against a wall or fence.

[–] SlippiHUD 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I'm specifically looking for native fruit. I already have 2 apple trees and a lapin cherry tree.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Ok, but cherries and apples aren't native; colonists introduced them. I think the pawpaw is the only native tree with edible fruit and you already listed it.

[–] SlippiHUD 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The American Black Cherry (Prunus serotina) is native, it gets upto 80 feet tall.

And while I do have some non-native plants. I'm hoping to fill out the rest of my garden with Native fruit. I have found two native plums to my region(Prunus Niagra and Prunus Americana).

And apparently I've been ignoring a variety of native nuts, though they are all too large. I'm hoping to keep any trees under 30ft, but I'm also planting things that aren't trees.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Neato, I didn't know about that cherry. Good luck with your search and your garden!