Edible Ornamental Shrubs

Colorful Foliage

• Rosalind Creasy’s book “Edible Landscaping” divides the leaf colors of edible shrubbery and small trees into gold/lime, purple/red and silver/gray/green categories. Shrubs falling into the lime to gold category include elderberry "Sutherland Gold" and dwarf persimmon. The elderberry cultivars "Guincho Purple" and "Thundercloud" fit into the red to purple category, as do some dwarf plums. Blueberry foliage turns burgundy in autumn. Gooseberry, serviceberry and clove currant bushes are also known for their colorful fall foliage. The 5-foot tall salad plant Orach also boasts reddish-purple leaves. Unlike actual shrubs and dwarf trees, Orach is an annual, but it reseeds reliably. The tall fruiting shrub pineapple guava and the artichoke-like cardoon plant have silver, blue or gray foliage. Evergreens, such as juniper shrubs, lend green color year-round, and bear small edible berries useful in game sauces and to make liqueurs.

Flowers

• Fruiting plants must flower in order to attract pollinating insects. In the process, fruiting shrubs and dwarf trees put on a spectacular show, often in early spring before ornamental flowers emerge. Those that bear pink and white flowers include dwarf almond, apple, apricot, cherry, nectarine, common plum and peach trees. Shrubs such as blueberry, bush cherry, bush plum, natal plum and elderberry also produce white-pink flowers before fruiting. Other flowering shrub or shrub-like plants include the lavender flowers of the cardoon, artichoke and tall lavender plants; the deep pinks and maroons of edible-hipped roses and pineapple guava shrubs -- along with the yellow flowers of tall Jerusalem artichokes, which are shrubby, sunflower-like perennials with edible roots.

Fruit

• Fruit is a sight that gladdens any gardener’s heart, but some shrubs bear fruits that are especially striking to look at. Showy edible fruits include the large round hips from some rose varieties. The sprays of orange berries produced by the sea berry shrub are also striking, as are the vivid red, black or purple berries of the blueberry, currant, elderberry and cranberry bushes. The colorful, striking shapes of apples, pears, citrus, plums and other large fruits found on dwarf trees or fruiting-bush fruits add visual punch as well as food for the table.

Form

• Don’t neglect the shapes of your edible landscaping shrubs and tall plants. For fountain-like silhouettes, consider dwarf weeping mulberry trees and the tall herb lemongrass, which can be potted in cold climates or planted in the ground in warmer regions. Edible bamboos also create a range of interesting shapes in the garden, as do the stretches of wheat and other grains some gardeners include in their edible hedgerows. Contorted shapes, which add interest in the winter, come from dwarf figs and olive trees, as well as some hazelnut shrubs. Junipers and small pawpaw trees provide a pyramid shape that contrasts with rounded or spreading shrubs. Finally, consider the forms of some non-edible shrubs as "scaffolding" for edible vines. For example, extend the season of early-flowering non-edibles, such as lilac and forsythia by training lightweight nasturtium vines on them. Nasturtium leaves and flowers add a peppery flavor to salads, while the flower buds may be pickled and used like capers.