11. Chinquapin (Castanea pumila)
The chinquapin is another beautiful edible plant that will look pretty in your garden. It’s a shrubby, ornamental tree native to the southeastern US that produces small edible nuts.
What’s great about this one is that it grows pretty fast and is suited to a wide range of soil types. It usually grows with multiple stems, but you can prune it back to grow into a single-trunk tree if you want.
The nut is covered in burs, but crack open the shell and you’ll discover an inner nut with a sweet flavor similar to chestnuts. It’s worth mentioning that if you don’t harvest the nuts yourself, the wildlife will likely come to your yard and do that for you.
12. American Pawpaw (Asimina triloba)
The last beautiful edible plant on our list is the American pawpaw. This small, deciduous tree is native to eastern North America and produces large, green-yellow fruits that taste something like a cross between banana and mango.
The tree is a charming specimen that grows up to 25 feet tall with dense, drooping foliage. Its fruits don’t store or ship well, so they are a pretty rare sight in the grocery aisle. In other words, this beautiful edible plant makes a unique candidate for a home orchard.
Even though the tree grows pretty fast, getting it to produce fruits can be challenging. It doesn’t self-pollinate, and the beetles and flies that can pollinate it aren’t that reliable. In order to enjoy the fruits, it’s worth growing several in close proximity and pollinating them yourself with a small paintbrush.
You may also want to read These 10 Tropical Plants Will Thrive Indoors With Minimal Effort.
