beach plums Gooseberries
Horticulture Section
Minor Fruit
These under-used trees and shrubs are good for landscaping as well as fruit.

Cornell Gardening Page
Cornell Fruit Resource Page

More minor
fruit resources:


North American
Fruit Explorers


Fruit, Berry, and
Nut Inventory

Book from Seed Savers Exchange

You likely won't find the fruits that follow in the grocery store. For one reason or another, they aren't suited to commercial production and marketing. About the only way you'll enjoy their unique flavors is to grow them yourself. As a bonus, many of these trees and bushes make fine landscape plants.

Gooseberries and Currants - Hardy and easy to grow, these sweet-tart fruits make excellent jams, pies, and jellies.

Elderberries - Rich in phosphorus, potassium, and Vitamin C. Elderberry plants are generally free of pests, which makes them great for landscape plantings

Hardy Kiwifruit
- Similar in flavor to commercially grown varieties, yet smaller, smoother, and easier to eat. Note: Hardy kiwifruit may smother neighboring trees if plantings are abandoned. This may have occurred once in Massachusetts and again in New York on Long Island. The plant grows as a smothering vine in these two locations.

Persimmons - Attractive fall foliage, brightly colored fruit, and bark with interesting texture make persimmons a good accent plant in landscaping.

Pawpaws - Also called the Poor Man's Banana, pawpaws are the largest edible fruit native to America.

Mulberries
- Used for jelly, wine and desserts, these berries can be easily gathered by covering the ground with a sheet or canvas and shaking the tree.

Juneberries - Also known as shadbush, Alleghany serviceberry, sugar pear and Saskatoon, there are more than 25 species native to North America.

Cornelian Cherries - The only species of dogwood that produces edible fruit, Cornelian Cherries deliver twice as much Vitamin C by weight as oranges.

Beach Plums - This native shrub is common to coastal sand dunes from Maryland to southern Maine and is often used to make jams and jellies.

Highbush Cranberries - Known as the American Cranberry Bush. Makes a great hedge or privacy screen.

Buffaloberries - Early settlers served these berries as a sauce with buffalo meat. A silvery appearance and attractive fruit make this plant a pleasing ornamental.

Quinces - Fragrant yellow fruit commonly used to make jelly.



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