by Nan Chase
Like citrus trees, olives can grow in containers and be taken indoors for the winter. And because they tolerate not just poor soil, but alkaline or even salty soil, olives can grow well near the beach.
The tree itself can tolerate cold to 15 degrees F, but ripening fruit is damaged below 28 degrees F, and blossoms suffer from frost.
This fragility may not be a bad thing for cold-weather gardeners who want to experiment. Allowed to over-bear, the olive tree drops enough fruit to stain pavement and lawns, and truly, processing the fruit is a challenge.
That was the case when my family moved from the Central Valley to Southern California during my childhood. Our new yard held an olive tree between the front window and the driveway. It was lovely, but to my parents the prospect of messy olives dropping on our clean driveway was unacceptable. The olives were to get rid of, not to eat.
For “prune-a-holics” like me, who like nothing better than shaping a young tree, the olive makes a perfect project.
Olive trees demand pruning—at least when fruit is desired. Left alone, an olive tree can grow fifty feet high, thirty feet wide. But commercial growers keep their trees to twenty feet. In containers, olive trees usually grow to just ten feet.
They can be left in their naturally bushy habit or trained young to have spreading lower branches of great character.
Letting an olive tree bear fruit without pruning it will likely result in excess fruit, which in turn leads to smaller fruit and such stress on the tree that it can only bear in alternate years. Even a 1 percent fruit set is considered a heavy crop that should be thinned. In optimum conditions the yield can be well over one hundred pounds per tree; withholding moisture dampens the yield without killing the tree.
In the Mediterranean region, most fruit is pressed for oil. In the United States olives have been grown since the 1700s, beginning in San Diego, and most become table olives. The untreated fruit contains bitter compounds that must be leached or pickled out before the olives are edible. Although the process is laborious, olive oil may be pressed at home, and hobby presses and instructions are widely available through the Internet.
For table olives, fruit is generally, but not always, picked in the green or “straw” state before it fully ripens to purple-black. The fruit is fragile and easily bruised.
Once cured, olives are delightful as snacks, with cocktails, and in various salads and cooked foods. I especially like pieces of pitted, salt-cured olives baked into pizza dough.
Dusk gives a pink burnish to an olive branch heavy with fruit. Olive trees were an early, but unsuccessful, experiment of early American settlers. Photos by Lillian Machado Dickson of Dickson Napa Ranch.
Curing Olives
The standard American method for curing table olives uses lye as a fast leaching agent, but many home cooks want to avoid using this hazardous caustic.
Both the lye-treatment method and a less harsh brine-cured version are explained in the publication “ABCs of Home-Cured, Green-Ripe Olives,” available on the University of California, Davis site (www.ucdavis.edu) or through the University of California Cooperative Extension in Fresno, California.
There are many traditional ways to cure olives using salt, salt brine, vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, spices and flavorings, or other ingredients. If you plan to cure your own olives, conduct further research before making a choice.
An olive tree can live and produce fruit for a thousand years or more, marking boundaries and creating landmarks for the generations. Photo © iStockPhoto/Ann Murie.
Landscape highlights
Structural interest from gnarled trunks and limbs
Attractive grey-green foliage year-round
Attains great age
Potted for container gardening
Edible highlights
Cured olives
Pressed for oil
Where it grows best
In hot, dry zones with long growing season for fruit, but can survive to 15 degrees F; any frost damages fruit
In coastal regions with maximum winter temperatures around 50 degrees F
In large containers for indoor or small-space gardening
In thin or gritty soil with good drainage, or in clay loam
In full sun
How to grow it
As a pest-free small evergreen tree
With soil analysis to correct any leaf discoloration
Pruned consistently to prevent excess, undersize fruit, and broken limbs
Watered lightly except for fruit development
To mark a distant property line
Beyond a patio to extend visual interest
Pomegranate
Pomegranate represents adventure for me: once, age seven or eight, as I first rode my bike to streets beyond my own, I came across an unfamiliar bushy plant in front of a house that had burned down. All around it was scorched black, even the sidewalk, but there stood that bright green shrub covered with leathery dark-pink fruits: pomegranate.
I already knew pomegranates as a dessert, the skin stuffed with hundreds of juicy, garnet-colored kernels. They were sweet, with a lemony twist and plenty of crunch.
In the years since, the pomegranate has become a supermarket staple and is well known in juice form for its healthful qualities, primarily high vitamin C and antioxidant content. Pomegranate kernels—berries, or “arils,” actually—are used in Middle Eastern and modern American cuisine. The juice makes good jelly, and when boiled down to syrup or “molasses” it is delicious in beverages or sauces, or as a glaze for grilled meats.
As part of the edible landscape, this native of the Himalayan highlands grows in a wide range of climates, but does best—producing abundant bright red flowers and that incomparable fruit—in hot, dry regions.
The ancient pomegranate had migrated over the ages throughout the Middle East and Mediterranean regions before crossing the Atlantic with Spanish missionaries and English colonists. Pomegranates thrived in California, but did less well in New England and the South; they would not bear fruit in cold or humid conditions, although the vegetation could survive. Technically the roots live to 10 degrees F, while the branches may die back below 20 degrees.
I have faithfully replicated the early Americans’ experiments in my own North Carolina garden. Planted in the driest corner of my garden and with twenty-five pounds of added sand apiece to replicate Morocco, my two pomegranates are happy through the summer months, their limbs clothed in glossy, red-edged leaves; but so far, they haven’t flowered or set fruit. In truth, my climate may be too cold for that, but I still enjoy the glossy foliage as contrast to the rougher plants.
The deciduous, pest-free pomegranate has several uses in garden design.
Planted in a row, pomegranate bushes can be allowed to follow their natural suckering habit and maintained as a hedge. Or they can be used as specimen plants, gaining their full twenty-foot height.
Commonly, though, they are pruned of suckers and kept to eight or ten feet for maximum fruit. Although the pomegranate is drought resistant, it needs regular water for fruit production.
Pomegranate is a member of the rose family and is related to the apple. Its Latin name, Punica granatum, contains a lot of information: “Punic” relates to the plant’s spread under the Phoenicians, while “pom” and “granatum” together roughly mean “seeded apple.”
Pomegranate fruit is simultaneously bothersome and exciting. Once the outer skin has been removed, there’s still an unappealing yellowish membrane to penetrate. Only then are the beautiful and delicious arils released; many cooks like to separate these colorful and stain-producing nuggets in a sink filled with water to minimize the mess.
The berries, seeds and all, can be eaten as is or wrung inside a moistened towel to release the juice. Another method is to roll the whole fruit until it softens, then puncture the skin and keep squeezing.
When using the juice for jelly, syrup, or molasses, let it sit overnight or longer in the refrigerator so that the sediment
can settle before processing. The result will be clear, rather than cloudy, products.
Photo © iStockPhoto/Mamarama.
The pomegranate blossom, with its hot-pink petals unfurling, gives the edible landscape a blast of color. ©iStockPhotos/Laticia Ragle.
Pomegranate Syrup and Pomegranate Molasses
Recipes for pomegranate syrup and the thicker “molasses” differ mainly in the amount of time required to simmer the juice—with sugar and citrus—to the desired consistency.
The amount of sugar in relation to raw juice varies widely according to the source. For every 4 cups of extracted juice, add as little as 1/2 cup or as much as 2-1/2 cups sugar. Likewise, lemon juice varies from 1 tablespoon to 1/4 cup per 4 cups of juice, according to taste. Batches may be up to 8 cups of juice at a time (beginning with 10 cups, minus 2 cups of sediment).
Combine all ingredients in an enameled kettle; heat slowly until sugar dissolves. Simmer 50 to 60 minutes for syrup, 70 to 90 minutes for molasses. Volume should reduce by a third for syrup, a half for molasses.
Cool and store in jars in the refrigerator, or process in a boiling water bath to seal.
Juice made from fresh pomegranates is rich in antioxidants and can be bottled for year-round enjoyment. Photo by Henry Firus of Flagstaffotos, Australia.
Landscape highlights
Intense red blossoms
Glossy summer foliage
Edible highlights
Fresh fruit from the bush
Juiced for beverages, juice, or jelly
Where it grows best
In dry climates
In full sun
In light, well-drained soil
How to grow it
As a deciduous shrub to fifteen feet tall and spreading
Pruned of suckers for fruit production
Massed, unpruned, as a hedge
Watered lightly except for fruit development
With underplantings of lacy white or blue flowers, like love-in-a-mist
Near a water source for easy irrigation during fruit set
Where to find pomegranate bushes
Residents of the far West or deep South are more likely than most gardeners to find pomegranate plants at a local nursery or garden center. Others will need to order by mail; consult a local agricultural agent (see Resources section) for recommendations about reputable nurseries.
Cross-pollination is not necessary but will increase fruit set. Recommended varieties are ‘Wonderful’ and ‘Favorite’, and dwarf varieties are available.
Once established, pomegranates can be easily propagated from hardwood cuttings in soil.
Wildflowers
They’re everywhere!
Wildflowers are widespread native plants that flourish on their own, beautiful and productive without the human touch. Wildflowers circle the globe, providing food for people, birds, mammals, and insects. They grow an inch high, a foot high, thirty feet high, with mind-boggling variety in color, form, and habit.
Having survived millions of years of genetic adaptation on Earth, wildflowers are the easiest components to grow in the edible landscape. They have few pests or diseases, and little need for pruning or special care.
American native plants and their offspring add so much to the edible landscape because wildflowers take so many forms: trees, shrubs, flowering masses, even cacti.
Although each wildflower occupies a specialized niche, many share the valuable characteristic of multi-season appeal. Blooming wild roses look good in spring and summer, for instance, but they also have brilliant fall color and continuing interest through winter, when the last ripe red hips glisten with frost.
Many wildflowers offer delicious fruit in season, the freshest food imaginable, rich in flavor and nutrition. It’s natural and organic, essentially harvested from the wild.
A wildflower in its ideal habitat always looks healthy, and the wonder of wildflowers is how they span vast geographical regions across North America. The same plant can grow in habitats as diverse as Quebec and Florida. Take the humble yucca, with its edible flowers, fruits, and roots: it lives in the western deserts, the frigid upper Plains states, and the moist Appalachian Mountains.
The secret to using wildflowers in the edible landscape is to duplicate their natural habitats.
Pawpaw and persimmon trees want the complex leaf litter and dappled shade of the forest margins; they grow best when used as understory plants beneath the cover of mature hardwoods.
Wild roses and sunflowers can survive over a wide range of temperatures and sunlight conditions, but they must have air circulation and adequate water.
Yucca and prickly pear mustn’t sit in water. They don’t care how hot or cold they get as long as the soil drains well and there’s plenty of sun.
I have found great joy, in my own edible landscape, from fitting all of these plants into half a dozen microclimates: shady areas with well-composted soil, airy perennial borders around the lawn, and dry, thin soil in patches of intense sun.
In selecting the plants to include in this section I have had to leave out many interesting candidates. My criteria included the possible range of cultivation, the degree of potential invasiveness in the landscape, the degree of beauty through the year, ease and quantity of harvest, and ease of food preparation.
So I concentrate on just five groupings: pawpaw, persimmon, wild roses, sunflowers, and the yucca and prickly pear together—all wonderful in the edible landscape. It’s hard to choose a favorite.
Photo by Nan K. Chase.
The tougher the plant, it seems, the more tender and lovely the flower. Both prickly pear flowers (top) and yucca blossoms (bottom) are delicate delights. Photos by Nan K. Chase.
Pawpaw
“It was love at first bite,” says North Carolina horticulturist and pawpaw grower Derek Morris of the pawpaw fruit. He grows an amazing twenty-nine varieties of pawpaw in his nearly one-acre yard in Winston-Salem. “Simply put, it was the most delicious fruit I had ever tasted, and the creamy, smooth texture was an instant hit with me.
“I couldn’t believe that this fruit was not found in every grocery store and that it was not as common as the banana or apple.”
There are reasons the pawpaw is not better known: the custard-like ripe fruit is simply too delicate to handle and ship much distance, and it doesn’t store well once off the tree. And the pawpaw began to lose habitat with rampant suburban development.
But researchers are confident that the storied pawpaw is on the verge of a big revival and will soon become a feature in the edible yard. Already some growers in the Southeast have begun planting orchards and expect to be supplying local buyers soon.
The graceful, small pawpaw tree—growing to thirty feet—not only furnishes delightful fruit, but its oversize leaves provide open shade in summer and excellent yellow leaves in fall. Despite its mature size, pawpaw is considered a wildflower for its flowering habit and widely naturalized spread.
As the only place the zebra swallowtail butterfly lays eggs and where its caterpillars eat after hatching, the pawpaw tree attracts these stunning creatures as a bonus.
There are towns named Paw Paw in West Virginia and Kentucky, Michigan, and Oklahoma, with townships of the same name scattered throughout the Ohio River Valley (the spelling of pawpaw appears many different ways). Today, one breeder of pawpaws names his plant lines after river systems of the East: Shenandoah, Potomac, Susquehanna, Rappahannock, Allegheny, and Wabash.
Those moist, shady, well-drained lowlands provide the perfect shelter for pawpaw trees, which spread as thickets. They prefer a slightly acid soil and are one of the only plants—along with persimmon—that can grow well near black walnut trees.
As the northernmost New World branch of the large, mostly tropical, custard apple family, the pawpaw, Asimina triloba, can certainly survive the cracking cold winters of central North America. Its bell-shaped brown flower in spring presents an intricate composition in layers of three: like a thick trillium blossom
curled back on itself. While interesting, the flower is relatively small and considered inconspicuous.
Pawpaws figured prominently in early American folklore and were known as important food for all kinds of wildlife. George Washington liked to eat chilled pawpaw fruit—according to various tales—as did Daniel Boone and Mark Twain. The Native American people ate them, and so did the Lewis and Clark explorers.
The pudding-like pawpaw fruit (sometimes called false-banana, Hoosier banana, or poor man’s banana) is described as an entrancing mixture of light tropical flavors with caramel or butterscotch overtones: mango, pineapple, banana, avocado, peaches, pears. This complex flavor develops only after the first frosts of the season, so pawpaw is a late-season treat that ripens on the tree.
Vitamin-rich pawpaw fruits can weigh up to a pound apiece; the bean-shaped pods are several inches or more long. Cooks find the pulp freezes well or can be baked into pies and breads. Pawpaw can also be dried.
To grow pawpaws, it’s important to understand the young trees’ need for shade protection and adequate moisture. Derek Morris and others have found the pawpaw a challenge to get started, given its long taproot and a web of delicate side roots.