Ornamental fruit

[Invicta]

The thread about Fuchsia berries made me think about fruit that I get from the ornamental part of my garden. One I don't use are the berries on my Fuchsia m. Riccartonii, they are insipid and seedy.

My favourites are fruits on my Chaenomeles, japanese quinces, rock hard and mouth puckering when raw, but cooked with sugar they make fantastic scented jelly. The hips on my Rosa rugosa hedge have been used for syrup, jam and wine. The fruit of Ribes odoratum, golden currant are quite sweet and make a pleasant tart or pie [ Red flowering currant berries are seedy and bitter tasting ]. The berries on my myrtle [myrtus communis] made an interesting spicy sauce, but it does not produce a lot of fruit. I have made a jelly from Berberis darwinii berries, it was ok but hardly worth the trouble from the spines, very like a jelly I made years ago from mahonia aquifolium berries. I have yet to try the berries on my cowberry plants [ Vaccinium vitis -idaea ], they don't produce much fruit.

Any body else use fruit from the ornamental part of the garden and if so what varieties?

[Guest]

I discovered today that the fruit on himalayan honeysuckle is meant to be edible, however I don't remember seeing any fruits on it

[chrisdb]

I think you got most of the obvious ones. The ones I've had success with are limited, although not for lack of trying.

For example, I wanted to make Chaenomeles jam, but my plants were stubbornly uncooperative, with so little fruit set from the flowers that there were barely enough to make anything. However last year, when I did two things: (i) took them up and put them in pots, and (ii) got a couple of other varieties, they fruited quite heavily for their size. Since I had them in pots for a while before with no luck, my working hypothesis is that Chaenomeles are not self-fertile, or at least my varieties aren't, and if you want a lot of the fruit you need at least a couple of varieties.

One thing missing from your list is that most Elaeagnus species produce edible fruit in theory, and they're often grown as ornamentals. The problem is that the most common ornamentals, Elaeagnus x ebbingei, Elaeagnus pungens, ... are quite shy fruiters in my experience, so it's pretty hard to get enough to use. I do grow Goumi, Elaeagnus multiflora, but I grow that specifically for the fruit, and it fruits quite well given that it's still young. The fruit tastes a bit like rhubarb.

You also didn't mention Amelanchier. I think berries of most Amelanchiers are edible, and I have eaten the fruit of Obelisk, an upright saskatoon variety. It's a bit disappointing though... it tastes more of peas to me than a desert fruit. This year I planted Northline, a variety bred (in Canada I think?) specifically for the fruit, so we'll see if that's any better.

To be honest, I've tried more non-fruit ornamentals from my garden than fruit. The following all have edible leaves for example:

1. Almost all Campanula species (some are tough though, you need to pick the species with softer and less hairy leaves)
2. Almost all Malva species (tastes pretty mild, like lettuce)
3. Lime tree leaves
4. Beech tree leaves
5. Red Valerian leaves
6. Agastache Foeniculum (other members of the genus as well)
7. Almost all Viola species
8. ...

You get the picture. It's surprising how many ornamental species have non-poisonous leaves if you look it up, although the majority are not going to compete with your supermarket veg for flavour. Probably the best as a lettuce substitute are the Malvas and the Lime tree leaves.

If you're interested in spring shoots, I have the following growing in my garden that are edible in theory, although I haven't tried them:

1. Solomon's seal
2. Hostas
3. False solomon's seal
4. Aralia Cordata ('Udo', a popular vegetable in Japan)
5. ...

[Invicta]

Yes I do have two varieties of chaenomeles, probably explains why I get the fruit. Had tried Amelanchier berries picking them from trees in car parks and parks but have not been impressed. If the new varieties from America get good reviews I might consider planting one. Never seen fruit on any of the Eleagnus grown in parks around here [mainly E x ebbingei, but cometimes a deciduous rootstock appears posssibly E.commutata] so I have never tasted them.
Non fruit edibles, I have Day lilies and I believe the flower buds are edible but have not plucked up courage to try them. Hostas are also used as a veg in japan but I don't grow them beccause of slugs and snails.

[chrisdb]

Yes I do have two varieties of chaenomeles, probably explains why I get the fruit. Had tried Amelanchier berries picking them from trees in car parks and parks but have not been impressed. If the new varieties from America get good reviews I might consider planting one. Never seen fruit on any of the Eleagnus grown in parks around here [mainly E x ebbingei, but cometimes a deciduous rootstock appears posssibly E.commutata] so I have never tasted them.
Non fruit edibles, I have Day lilies and I believe the flower buds are edible but have not plucked up courage to try them. Hostas are also used as a veg in japan but I don't grow them beccause of slugs and snails.

Supposedly the best day lily species is H. Fulva, but most ornamentals are complex hybrids. I've heard that some of the hybrids give people stomach ache.

[veggiechicken]

Day lilies are very versatile - you can eat the flowers, the young shoots and the tubers..........

BUT, I'm going to add the usual WARNING that you need to know exactly what your plant is before you try eating the leaves, berries or any other part of the plant.
If you don't know what it is, don't eat it!!

[chrisdb]

Day lilies are very versatile - you can eat the flowers, the young shoots and the tubers..........

BUT, I'm going to add the usual WARNING that you need to know exactly what your plant is before you try eating the leaves, berries or any other part of the plant.
If you don't know what it is, don't eat it!!

Agreed. There is an additional challenge though: if you got it from a garden centre, how much can you trust the label? In my experience garden centres and ornamental plant suppliers aren't always reliable when it comes to proper species names, and the common names are often too vague to be useful

[chrisdb]

Some more ornamentals with edible fruit or nus, either raw or cooked:

Cornus species (e.g. Cornus mas, Cornus kousa)
Sorbus species (normally astringent fresh off the tree and either need to be bletted or cooked)
Sambucus species (Elder)
Arbutus unedo (strawberry tree)
Actinidia kolomitka (Manchurian kiwi, Male plants are often grown without females for the variegated leaves)
Ginkgo biloba (Ginkgo, nuts are edible, but you need make and female plants, they take a long time to bear, and the fruit apparently smells really bad)
Araucaria araucana (Monkey puzzle tree, takes 40 years to start producing nuts, you need male and female plants)

[Invicta]

Tried Cornus mas raw, both sour and bitter in flavour. I know of C.kousa chinensis trees around here, impressive in flower but never noticed if they set fruit.

Used Sorbus aucuparia berries to make wine, rather cidery flavour with more bitterness.
Regulary pick elderberries in autumn from S.nigra, only other species I have come across is S.racemosa with red berries, never tried that.

Found Arbutus berries very insipid.

Only ever seen A.kolomikta as single specimens.

Again the Ginkgo and Araucaria I see are single specimens.