Fruit & Nuts

This deciduous shrub or small tree of the family Betulaceae (Birch) is what we can thankfor the delicious hazelnuts that we find ourselves enjoying. Corylus avellana (Common hazel tree) is arelatively carefree plant. Corylus americana (American hazelnut) is a great choice for northern growers, tolerant to both heat and cold, and resistant to Eastern filbert blight) / Corylus maxima (Red filbert) is referred to as the giant filbert. They are a few of the most commonly grown varieties and can range from 8 to 20 feet tall with a 5 to 15 foot width grown as shrubs or small

A type of Japanese walnut deciduous tree, (family of Juglandaceae and genus Juglans), that producesan sweet edible heart-shaped nut. The twigs are often as big around as broom handles and the leavesare compound and can be two to three feet long. With adequate moisture and protection from weedcompetition they can put on six to eight feet of height growth per year. A large firmly entrenched taprootforms a fast-growing, very cold hardy Heartnut tree that is relatively easy to transplant and survive.The delicious kernel has a high oily content and is very tasty and crunchy when eaten raw or whentoasted.

Roughly one dozen species belong to the deciduous hickory (genus Carya -familyJuglandaceae. The hickory tree produces a dense, strong, and shock-resistant wood that is commonlyused to make tool handles, furniture, and decorative architectural elements. In addition, many types ofhickory are sought for use in the content and preparation of food, and can be useful in survivalsituations. Hickory trees have bark that forms ridges in a vertical pattern. These ridges may be shallowor deep, far apart or close together, but always vertical. Additionally, some hickory bark becomesraised at the plate edges as the tree matures, and eventually flakes off, from

The highbush cranberry plant, also called American cranberry bush, is a shrub from thegenus Viburnum of the Caprifoliaceae, or Honeysuckle family. It is not actually related to the cranberries.The bush grows up to 8 to 15 ft. in height with a 8 to10 ft. spread and forms a rounded shape. The flowers of the highbush cranberry shrub usually appear after the leaves emerge (May to June) and occur as flat clusters 2 to 5 inches across. The flowers themselves are 5-petaled and come in two different forms on the same plant. Around the edge of the cluster, large white

Honey locust is a deciduous tree of the legume Fabaceae family (Gleditsia triacanthos). It hascompound leaves that give the foliage a lacy effect that turn yellow in autumn. The sweet smelling flowersattract the bees in spring. The reddish-brown seed pods can grow to a foot long. They contain a sweet, sticky pulp with bean-like seeds. The sweet and fleshy pulp of the bean pods can be eaten raw or extracted and used in a variety of ways. The fruits pods of the honey locust are edible but note that the black locust pods are toxic (though it’s flowers are

The tree is deciduous in the genus Ziziphus in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae.Jujube trees may be productive for more than 100 years. The tree can grow to a height of 30- 50 ft.The leaves are dark green and with a shiny waxlike appearance above and a layer of fuzz on thelower side. The tree loses its leaves in the winter to make an ornate specimen with upright trunks,short angled shoots, and rough bark. The leaves turn vivid yellow in autumn. The 1 to 1 ½ long fruit is very sweet, reddish brown when ripe with a white flesh fruit

This deciduous plant that was introduced in1962 and its 3 inch fruit is classified as a berry. It has anoval shape with a furry brown skin edible skin. The green inside has tiny black seeds that can also beeaten. Leaves of this plant are leathery in texture and are dark green colored. They are huge in size of being about 7 to 10 inches diameter and oval shape. The woody vine cangrow 15–30 ft. tall and 6–10 ft. wide. From the family Actinidiaceae, its male plants have their fibersmore visible and they don’t grow white hairs while the females

This bush is from the family Ericaceae. Lingonberries are also referred to ascowberries, mountain or lowbush cranberries, red bilberries or whortleberries. They are a closerelative of the cranberry and blueberry. Leaves of the lingonberry are shiny on a low-growingevergreen shrub that reaches from 12-18 inches (30-46 cm.) high and 18 inches across. They areself-pollinating so you only need one plant to get fruit. It blooms are very dainty bell shaped flowersin white or pink. In the Americas, a dwarf variation is more common. It grows to be only 4-6″ inheight, and plants spread to roughly 12″ across.

This is a subtropical tree of the rose family Rosaceae grown for its evergreen foliageand edible fruit. It can grow up to 30-feet but for those gardeners that keep the tree under 10-feet inheight, it starts to take on the appearance of a shrub that can have a 20 to 30 year life-span. Theperennial nature of this shrub has other names known as Japanese plum or medlar, the Chineseplum, and May Apple. There are many different uses in traditional medicine for the fruit. The flowersform on the tips of the branches that are younger than 6-months and produce the

The most notable of the soapberry family, Sapindaceae, Lychee trees bloom in the latewinter to early spring. It is a broadleaf evergreen fruit tree. The resulting fruits are actually drupes,which are borne in clusters of from 3-50 fruits. The fruit is round to oval and 1-1.5 inches (25-38 mm.)across and a bumpy textured pink to red in color. Once peeled, the interior of fruit is whitish, semitransparent, and juicy. Each drupe contains one shiny, dark brown seed. The tree is familiar to Florida,Hawaii, southern California, and southern Texas. While some subtropical fruits, such as these, maysurvive outdoors only in