Cold-Hardy Fruits and Nuts: 50 Easy-to-Grow Plants for the Organic Home Garden or Landscape

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Lingonberries grow densely and can be harvested by raking. Bushes produce large amounts of small, deep ruby-colored, tart berries. They’re similar to cranberries in taste and uses. If you grow large quantities, not only can you make jams and condiments, you can also freeze them for use later. Expect these stone pine trees to bear 20lbs of nuts or more, starting five years after planting. At full maturity, the trees measure 60-70ft. Since they’re self-fertile, only plant one tree until you want tons of pine nuts. Most wild butternuts are threatened because of a disease called butternut canker that’s causing their numbers to dwindle. Trees planted in isolation, however, in areas without butternuts present stand a good chance of reaching fruiting age without becoming infected.

Carpathian walnuts belong to the English walnut family, but these trees handle cold temperatures and weather better. They grow further north than other cultivars and produce a steadier harvest in areas with variable winter.

Planting and early care

Don’t forget to add in a few crabapples, both for pollination and amazing fruit. Dolgo crab, in particular, is a good choice, as it’s a profuse bloomer with delicious fruit.

Cornelian Cherry belongs to the dogwood family, this small, shrub-like tree can grow up to 15-25 feet tall. The fruit is aromatic with a sweet-tart taste like a fusion of cranberry and sour cherry. Illustrated with more than 200 color photographs and covering 50 productive edible crops—from Arctic kiwi to jujube, medlar to heartnut—this is the go-to guide for growers interested in creating diversity in their growing spaces. In addition to the trees and space, you’ll need an adequate sprayer, ladder, and pruning tools. If you grow only dwarf trees and keep them short by training and pruning, you won’t need a ladder. A variety of landscapes can be created by growing pecans. Zone 7 and 8 plants thrive in soils that are appropriate for their soil type and climate. They are also popular in gardens because of their large leaves. Cold Climate Nut Trees With beautiful and instructive color photographs throughout, the book is also full of concise, clearly written botanical and cultural information based on the authors’ years of growing experience. The fifty fruits and nuts featured provide a nice balance of the familiar and the exotic: from almonds and pecans to more unexpected fruits like maypop and Himalayan chocolate berry. Cold-Hardy Fruits and Nuts gives adventurous gardeners all they need to get growing.

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I only recently learned about yellow horn trees, and I have no experience with them. According to Burnt Ridge Nursery, this “unusual hardy tree native to Northern China. Numerous pea-sized nuts are produced in 2″ seed capsules. White flowers to about 1″ in spring. Compound leaves are 1 ft. long. Very ornamental small tree. The leaves, flowers, and nuts of the Yellowhorn tree are edible. Zone 4 – 8.” Try Growing These Unique Fruits & Nuts Levy and Serrano] go way beyond the standard fare. . . . With their help, you’ll be growing persimmons, currants and hazelnuts in no time.”— Modern Farmer

Typically used as a landscape shrub, nannyberry is a bush or small tree that can reach 20 feet tall. It’s a Midwest native plant found in woodlands. While tart, Beach Plums are rich in antioxidants and can be turned into delicious jams. Some use these fruits in cordials and wines. Cold-Hardy Fruits and Nuts offers practical experience and useful information on a great diversity of species, including a few surprises. A great place to turn for anyone developing a perennial edible landscape, one of the world’s highest-carbon forms of gardening and farming.” —Eric Toensmeier, coauthor of Edible Forest Gardens, author of Perennial Vegetables In some states, Chinese chestnut trees are grown regularly, such as Iowa. You have to add at least two different trees to your property to produce an adequate harvest. The trees need healthy, fertile soil with good drainage. Space the trees around 30 feet apart; they grow wide. Rhubarb tastes best when baked or added to jams or jellies. I make a delicious strawberry-rhubarb jam in the spring and a sour cream rhubarb pound cake that everyone loves. You can easily add a rhubarb plant or two in an empty garden bed spot.Though less of a tree and more of a hardy shrub, hazelnuts can be a hardy and productive addition to your northern homestead. They’re native as far north as the uppermost tips of eastern Canada. Many gardeners grow chocolate vines only for the beautiful purple flowers, but they also produce fruits that look like little eggplants in the late summer. These fruits are edible, yet not the most delicious thing. It turns out that rose hips are the rose plant’s seed pods rather than a particular plant themselves. The hips are the fruit, looking like a small cherry. The Rugosa variety of roses produces the best hips, and Rugosa Roses bloom from spring until the first frost. The nuts are thin-shelled and easy to open, maturing 1-4 weeks before the hull opens. Expect yields of nuts starting in the middle of fall. The nuts are oval and measure up to two inches in diameter. It takes between 4-8 years for the tree to produce any nuts.