The first thing to look at when you are choosing trees for the forest garden is a Hardiness Zone map of your region. This will tell you which trees will survive the cold temperatures of winter. Here I present the Hardiness Map of Virginia: when we look at Amherst County, we find that we are in Zone 7a. That means that the lowest temperatures in winter are between 0 to 5 Fahrenheit or -18 to -15 Celcius.
I am thinking there will be around 200 trees in the Forest Garden. From this, 30% should be trees that provide nitrogen to the Forest Garden and the remaining 70% are the production trees. This leaves us with 60 Nitrogen Fixer Trees and 140 Production Trees. Here I will write a list of all the varieties of trees that we would like to have in the Forest Garden.
Nitrogen Fixers:
Alnus Cordata – Italian alder – Aliso napolitano
Alnus rubra – Red alder – Aliso rojo
Cercis siliquatrum – Judas Tree (Redbud) – Arbol de Judea
Eleagnus umbellata – Autum Olive – Olivo de otoño
Robinia pseudoacacia – Black Locust – Acacio
Myrica cerifera – Wax myrtle – Mirto sur de cera
Fruit Trees:
Cydonia oblonga – Quince – Membrillo
Ficus carica – Fig – Higuera
Malus domestica – Apple – Manzano
Prunus armeniaca – Apricot – Damasco
Prunus avium – Sweet Cherry – Cerezo Dulce
Prunus domestica – Plums – Ciruelo
Prunus persica – Peach – Durazno
Pyrus communnis – Pear – Peral
Asimina triloba – Pawpaw – Chirimoyo de la Florida
Diospyros virginiana – Persimmons – Kakis
Morus nigra – Mulberries – Morera negra
Nut Trees:
Castanea dentata – American Chesnut – Castaño Americano
Juglans nigra – Black Walnut – Nogal Negro
Juglans regia – Walnut – Nogal
Prunus dulcis – Almond – Almendro
Spices Trees:
Tilia cordata – Limes – Tilo norteño
Laurus nobilis – Bay – Laurel
Zanthoxylum spp. – Pepper Tree – Arbol de Pimienta
Medicinal Trees:
Ginko biloba – Maidenhair tree – Ginko
Eucalyptus spp. – Eucalyptus – Eucalipto
I hope you enjoy this selection of trees. I think with this we could have a nice variety of fruits and nuts, a little bit of spices and medicine. Some wax for candles and a lot of pollen for the bees.
In my next post, I will write about the bushes we would like to plant in the Forest Garden. If you enjoy this post, please leave us your comments.
How exciting! My very favorite tree may be the lovely redbud. I didn’t know it was an N fixer. Peach and eucalyptus are next in my fav list. What about blueberries? Ours have been pretty happy so I’d bet they’d thrive in Amherst. Are any of these on your list particularly good for helping pollinators? Lastly many folks I know are making room on their land for milkweeds to help support the declining monarch butterflies that migrate here from central Mexico. I was so excited to see one lingering at Amherst when we were there last fall so perhaps there is already a bounty of milkweed there.
Keep the plans and info rolling!!!
Hi Sarah, I am really happy to hear your comments. This is the most exciting part of writing a Post!!!!
This was only the list of Trees that I was thinking, still I haven’t mention the bushes and the herbs that will live in the Forest Garden. The blueberries are part of the bushes. But definitely we will have some blueberries. Also I will like to have the cherry bushes from Janet!
About the milkweed it is a very good Idea, I didn’t know that the monarch butterflies have symbiotic relation with the milkweed. Definitely we will have some of those Sarah.
Thanks Sarah for all you ideas, I hope to hear more of them in the future.