A New Focus on Landscaping This year Red Wagon is pleased to offer a variety of new landscape plants that have been requested by our customers. We are working with Cobble Creek Nursery in Monkton to provide a wide variety of Vermont grown edible and ornamental trees and shrubs. Our staff can help you choose the right plants for your project and give you the information you need to grow them successfully. We can also do on-site garden consultations at your home.
Ecological Landscaping: How to Make the Landscape Work for You
When it comes to landscaping, we believe in a natural, practical approach. There are a number of ways you can make your landscape more functional for you and for the ecosystem simply by choosing the right plants. One way is to plant trees and shrubs that produce edible fruit. The fruit can feed you and your family for years to come, and provide food and habitat for wildlife. Many of these plants have still other benefits, such as ornamental interest, providing shade in summer, as windbreaks, or as privacy screens. Here are some examples of edible landscape plants we are growing this year. For descriptions and growing tips for all the plants we are growing this season, click on “Our Plants”. For some great information on edible landscaping, check out Rosalind Creasy's website or see our "Resources" section.
NEW ‘Autumn Brilliance’ Apple Serviceberry – A native plant that produces white flowers in spring that provide pollen for a wide variety of insects. Flowers are followed by edible red berries that are adored by birds. Leaves turn orange and red in the fall for ornamental interest. Also a coppice species.
NEW ‘Darrow’ Blackberry – A very reliable, cold-hardy blackberry that bears huge sweet berries in July. 4-5' tall. Provides great habitat and food for wildlife. Produces suckers, creating a fast-growing hedgerow that works well as a privacy screen or windbreak.
‘Patriot’ Blueberry – A super-hardy half high blueberry that tolerates wet soils and produces delicious berries for birds and people. White blossoms in spring and orange leaves in fall offer year-round ornamental interest. These are underused as landscape plants, and we want to promote their use. A hedge of blueberries in the fall is absolutely stunning!
NEW ‘Red Lake’ Currants – A very hardy shrub that produces tart red berries in July. Delicious for jams, jellies, and pies. A great food and shelter plant for wildlife. Flowers that bloom from April to May have ornamental interest and provide nectar for a wide variety of insects.
‘Pixwell’ Gooseberry – Very easy to grow and low-maintenance, with round green berries that are picked like blueberries. Provides food and shelter for wildlife, and flowers provide nectar for pollinators.
NEW ‘Reliance’ Grape – Beautiful pink seedless grapes are excellent for fresh eating! These vigorous climbers can provide needed shade or a privacy screen in summer, as well as food and pollen for wildlife.
NEW ‘Parker’ Pear – A very hardy pear with medium sized reddish-brown fruit, lovely white flowers in spring, and dark purple foliage in fall for year-round ornamental interest. Requires a second variety nearby for pollination. Flowers provide nectar for pollinators, and the tree can be coppiced to produce wood for craft projects or scions.
NEW ‘Shiro’ Plum – Tree produces abundant gold fruit from July to August. Flowers provide nectar to a wide variety of insects.
NEW ‘Fall Gold’ Raspberry – An ever-bearing variety with yellow fruit that produces two crops, in June and August-October. A very hardy and tough plant with a wide variety of uses – plants provide food and shelter to wildlife and pollen to insects, brambles form a hedgerow for privacy or a windbreak, leaves can be used to make tea, and the berries are considered a super-food.
NEW ‘Black Beauty’ Elderberry – A wonderful ornamental and edible plant with year-round interest. Dark purple foliage is complemented by huge pink flowers in midsummer that provide nectar for native pollinators. Dark purple fruit appears in fall, and is great for making jam. Plant provides both food and shelter for wildlife. We will also be carrying a strain of elderberry that was bred by Lewis Hill - a Vermonter who was the authority on fruit production in the northeast. Lewis unfortunately passed a way a few years ago, but the plants he bred and propagated are his living legacy.
NEW ‘Alfredo’ Highbush Cranberry – This colorful edible ornamental gives a year-round show. Foliage opens red, then turns green, yellow, and then red again in fall. Red berries appear in fall and persist all winter, providing forage for wildlife. Large white to yellow flowers appear in spring and provide nectar for native pollinators. A very hardy plant that is deer and rabbit resistant. This makes a beautiful privacy hedge, growing thick and tall and just covered in cheery red berries in the fall.
Let us know your plans for your garden this year; perhaps a few well placed edible plants can add beauty to your yard and bounty for your table.
by Sophia and Julie