Urban Landscape, Native Landscape: ornamental fruits

Arbutus unedo October 2009

Sorbus gonggashanica September 2008

Callicarpa bodinieri November 2008

Rosa rugosa November 2008

Ribes sanguineum August 2008

Here is a list of shrubs & trees with ornamental fruits, some of them edible, for Seattle area gardens. Fruits add interest to the garden, especially in fall & winter. They look particularly good planted against an evergreen backdrop or screen. Arbutus unedo (Strawberry Tree) is very colorful in the fall when fruits appear with flowers. Callicarpa bodinieri (Beautyberry) has a unique purple fruit. Diospyros (Persimmon) & Ribes (Currant) are often grown for edible fruit production. Vaccinium parvifolium (Red Huckleberry) is a native plant with colorful & edible red berries.

Shrubs & Trees with Ornamental Fruits
Arbutus menziesii (Madrona): sun, inedible, Arbutus unedo (Strawberry Tree) Arbutus unedo ‘Compacta’ (Compact Strawberry Tree) Arbutus unedo ‘Elfin King’: sun or shade, edible but insipid

Amelanchier alnifolia (Western Serviceberry) Amelanchier canadensis (Eastern Serviceberry) Amelanchier laevis (Allegheny Serviceberry): sun or part shade

Aronia arbutifolia (Red Chokeberry) Aronia melanocarpa (Black Chokeberry): sun or part shade, edible but unpleasant when raw, high in antioxidants, read Aronia in America

Aucuba japonica 'Rozannie': shade, poisonous
Berberis georgei, Berberis wilsoniae (Barberry): sun, inedible
Callicarpa americana (American Beautyberry) Callicarpa bodinieri 'Profusion', Callicarpa dichotoma 'Issai', Callicarpa japonica (Japanese Beautyberry): sun, inedible
Cephalotaxus fortunei (Plum Yew): sun or shade, inedible

Chaenomeles japonica (Japanese Quince): sun, edible

Cornus mas (Cornelian Cherry): sun, edible
Cotoneaster franchetii, Cotoneaster horizontalis, Cotoneaster lacteus, Cotoneaster salicifolius, Cotoneaster serotinus, Cotoneaster splendens: sun, inedible
Crataegus durobrivensis, Crataegus laciniata, Crataegus laevigata ‘Rosea Flore Pleno’ (English Hawthorn) Crataegus mollis (Downy Hawthorne) Crataegus phaenopyrum (Washington Hawthorn) Crataegus prunifolia: sun, inedible
Cydonia oblonga (Quince): sun, edible

Dichroa febrifuga: shade, inedible

Diospyros kaki (Japanese Persimmon) Diospyros virginiana (American Persimmon): sun, edible

Elaeagnus umbellata (Autumn Olive): sun, inedible
Ficus carica (Fig): sun, edible
Gaultheria miqueliana (Spicy Wintergreen): shade, edible, Gaultheria procumbens (Wintergreen): shade, inedible, Gaultheria shallon (Salal): sun or shade, edible

Idesia polycarpa (Idesia): sun, inedible
Leycestercia formosa (Himalayan Honeysuckle): sun, inedible

Mahonia aquifolium (Oregon Grape) Mahonia bealei, Mahonia nervosa, Mahonia repens: & other species, most for shade, some tolerate sun, edible but not tasty
Malus ‘Adams’, Malus ‘Dartmouth’, Malus ‘Katherine’, Malus ‘Thunderchild’ (Crabapple): sun, edible

Mespilus germanica (Medlar): sun, edible

Nandina domestica (Heavenly Bamboo): sun or shade

Pernettya mucronata (Chilean Wintergreen): sun, inedible
Prunus cerasus (Cherry) Prunus domestica (Plum) Prunus japonica (Bush Cherry) Prunus persica (Peach) Prunus spinosa (Sloe): sun, edible
Pyracantha 'Apache', Pyracantha 'Navaho', Pyracantha 'Orange Glow', Pyracantha 'Red Column', Pyracantha 'Teton' (Firethorn): & other cultivars, sun, inedible
Pyrus communis (Pear): sun, edible

Ribes odoratum 'Crandall' (Clove Currant) Ribes 'Red Lake' (Red Currant) Ribes sanguineum (Flowering Currant) Ribes speciosum (Fuschia-flowered Gooseberry) Ribes 'Titania' (Black Currant): sun or shade, edible
Rosa glauca (Redleaf Rose) Rosa moyesii (Moyes Rose) Rosa rugosa (Sea Tomato) Rosa virginiana (Virginia Rose): sun, edible but not very tasty
Rubus spectabilis (Salmonberry) Rubus parviflorus (Thimbleberry): sun or shade, edible
Ruscus aculeatus (Box Holly) Ruscus hypoglossum (Dwarf Box Holly): shade, inedible

Sambucus caerulea (Blue Elderberry) Sambucus nigra (European Elderberry) Sambucus racemosa (Red Elderberry): sun or shade, edible when cooked

Skimmia japonica: shade, inedible

Sorbus alnifolia (Korean Mountain Ash) Sorbus aria (Whitebeam) Sorbus cashmiriana (Kashmir Mountain Ash) Sorbus commixta (Japanese Mountain Ash) Sorbus hupehensis (Hupei Mountain Ash) Sorbus scalaris: sun, inedible

Symphoricarpos albus (Snowberry): sun or shade, inedible
Taxus brevifolia (Pacific Yew): sun or shade, inedible
Vaccinium corymbosum (Blueberry): sun, edible, Vaccinium ovatum (Everygreen Huckleberry): sun or shade, edible, Vaccinium parvifolium (Red Huckleberry): shade, edible
Viburnum betulifolium, Viburnum davidii, Viburnum opulus (Cranberry Bush) Viburnum setigerum, Viburnum tinus: sun or light shade, inedible

About This Blog

This blog began in 2008 as Metropolitan Gardens to provide information on gardening in Seattle & places like it. Click on Gardening in Cascadia. The blog expanded to include Parks P-Patches Public Gardens in the US, Canada & Europe. Then Nature was added. (The difference between nature & gardens is intent. Nature happens. Gardens are planned.) Many recent posts are not about Seattle, or even Cascadia. They are Urban Landscape: streetscape & architecture. Cascadia is the region including the Cascade Mountains of Washington & Oregon. If you want to contact the blogger, leave a message in comments. Comments are moderated & private messages will not be posted.

Our Land & Climate

The city of Seattle rests between 2 bodies of water: Puget Sound & Lake Washington. Puget Sound is a substantial part of the Salish Sea & a very small part of the Pacific Ocean. The Salish Sea is set apart from the Pacific by the Olympic Peninsula in the state of Washington & Vancouver Island in the province of British Columbia. The dense, wet clouds of the Pacific Ocean travel as far as the Cascade Mountains, near the Salish Sea & not very far from the ocean. East of the Cascades lies the desert of the Columbia Basin. The moist, temperate climate of Seattle extends south to northern California & north to southeastern Alaska. The Pacific Northwest Coast from San Francisco Bay to Cook Inlet shares a flora dominated by evergreen coniferous forest. The central portion, west of the Cascade Mountains, is called Cascadia. The climate is cool & wet from fall to spring, warm & dry in summer. The Olympic Mountains block Seattle from much of the Pacific rainfall. Seattle is drier than the Atlantic coast of North America & northern Europe, cooler in summer & warmer in winter. It lies near the latitude of Paris & Quebec City.