New In The Garden Part 2

Continuing along with the theme for new things on the property we continue to try to get away from traditional fruit production. Things like peaches, apples and such struggle on this property because of late spring frosts. While the trees themselves grow fine they rarely produce due to late frosts. They also struggle with pest loads. Therefore we have changed our direction somewhat to production of things that we don't have to baby all year. And for us many of those things are native shrubs and small trees. 

New for us this year is the Nanking Cherry above. A small and hardy bush cherry. We planted a row of 5. Thus far they are growing wonderfully and are supposed to be very hardy and disease resistant.  

Last year we planted a native plum called a sand plum which I have fallen in love with.This plum seems really hardy and fast growing. It blooms really late so would not be hit by late frosts. It has no spurs or thorns like the Choctaw Plum or wild plum that I also have on the property. Problem is I could only get one. So I am going to hope it puts up some sprouts from the roots so that I can start a couple more so that it has something to pollinate with. The other two types of plums on the place will not pollinate it because they bloom at different times. So this is a work in progress. FYI the original tree here came from Stark Bros of Missouri last year. They are no longer carrying it. 

This is the Wild plum or Choctaw plum. These were a present from a friend. We have 4 in the southwest corner of the property along the fence. These make fruit every year but many times get hit very hard by late frosts so the harvest is very small. On the flip side it makes a small tree that is hardy and easy to maintain. We prune once a year to keep them under 10 foot. Dislikes for me is that they have horrible spurs or thorns that make them very difficult to pick or to prune. Also a downside is that they continuously put up suckers from the roots trying to form colonies like they grow in the wild. So we are constantly having to cut out sprouts around the tree.  If I can make the sand plum above work I will take these trees out and plant the much more docile sand plum. 

Another native new to us is the Cornelian Cherry. This is actually a type of dogwood with a red fruit very similar to a cherry. Like most dogwoods this tree is very shade tolerant as you can see this one planted last year grows happily under the edge of the oak canopy among the hostas and azaleas. We have 3 of these now. Two came from Stark Bros Nursery and one came from a small local nursery. These should make an interesting addition as they bloom yellow. 

So as you can see there are plenty of native alternatives to the traditional fruits and berries that require so much spraying and coddling to produce. It should be interesting in the years to come to see how these alternatives grow and produce for us. As we age as gardeners low maintenance, small size, less or no spraying and pruning and easy picking become crucial to us being able to continue to garden.

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter