The Blackberry Family: Juicy and Delicious
The large and diverse blackberry family (Rubus sp.) includes blackberries, raspberries, dewberries, salmonberries, and many hybrids and combinations of various North American and Eurasian species and cultivars, including the loganberry (raspberry x blackberry), the boysenberry (loganberry x raspberry x …
The Delicious Elderberry
Elderberries (Sambucus sp.) are best known for their berries, which are made into delicious jellies, pies, syrups, and wines. Elderberries have been receiving a lot of attention recently due to their extremely high vitamin C content.
Elderberries are also …
Edible Mast
Mast producing trees and shrubs are most often valued for their beauty and wildlife uses, but many types of hard and soft mast are also edible by humans. In fact, many are considered delicacies! Many types of fruits, nuts, and …
The Buckeye Family
The buckeye family (Aesculus sp.) is relatively low value for mast production because the nuts are mildly poisonous and avoided by most wildlife. Buckeye trees have even been eradicated from many areas by landowners to prevent livestock being poisoned …
How To Save Money on Energy Bills With Trees and Shrubs
Using mast-producing trees and shrubs in the home landscape can lower your heating and cooling bills by up to 25%. Here’s how:
Plant large deciduous trees on the south, west, and east sides of your house.
Well-placed deciduous trees can …
The American Beech
The American beech (Fagus grandifolia) is a large and handsome hardwood tree native to much of the Eastern United States and Canada.
In addition to being an important timber tree thanks to the quality of its wood, the …
The American Persimmon
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Persimmons are one of the most popular fruits in Asia, but they are underappreciated in North America, despite a very fine native persimmon species: the American Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana).
The American persimmon is a large …
Major Forest Cover Types of the United States
When deciding what species of native mast-producing tree or shrub to plant, it is helpful to have an understanding of the type of forest ecosystem native to your region.
The Society of American Foresters has defined the following 24 major …
The PawPaw: Taste of the Tropics
The Common Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) is a small tree or shrub that produces large, custardy fruits that are similar in texture and taste to bananas or mangoes. It is one of the only cold-hardy members of the custard …
Serviceberries: Summer-Fruiting Beauties
Serviceberries (Amelanchier sp.), also known as juneberries or shadbush, are a family of large, summer-fruiting deciduous shrubs or small trees native primarily to North America.
For many years, serviceberries were an overlooked landscaping plant, but in recent years they …