Harvesting Native Southern Plains Fruits

How and when to forage in the landscape or add berry-bearing shrubs to your garden

The Southern Plains is home to several plant species with edible and delightful fruits . Some , such as plum tree and grapes , invite a mass of attention for their recollective history of being eaten by man . I ’ve opt a few lesser known but every bit delicious species to profile here .

Elderberry

Common elderberry ( Sambucus nigrassp.canadensis , Zones 3–9 ) is a perennial shrub that grows to about 12 feet in height in moist areas such as ditches , bogs , and riparian thickets . It is aboriginal to all of the down 48 states and is in general found in partial shade but will also thrive in full sun given adequate moisture .

Elderberry raise clusters of deep purplish - smutty berries that are loaded with vitamins , minerals , and antioxidants . The tiny berries are often used to make jelly , muddle , and an old - prison term favorite — elderberry wine . The berry are also think to have immune - boosting properties , and so many folks harvest them for medicinal use . Elderberry has an uneven season of unfolding ( and therefore fruit product ) over several months , ordinarily from May through July in the Southern Plains . This means you will often find oneself new flowers , unripe yield , and ripe fruit on the same plant at the same time . Unripe fruit — as well as the leave , roots , and stems — are mildly toxic , so be certain to harvest only ripe yield . mature clusters of black elder are moody purple - black and large , often causing the whole cluster to hang upside down . In contrast , green and unripe fruits are held upright .

Here are a couple of important tip for harvest elderberries : First , you have to beat the birds to them . The berry are only about 3/16 to 1/4 column inch in diam and are beloved by birds , so check off your elderberry flora often for mature clusters ! Second , you must process your harvested berries within 12 hours of picking them because they get down to work right aside . That is on the dot why you never see elderberries offered at farmers ’ securities industry or at food market stores ; they are simply too perishable to be commercialise novel . This lack of commercial-grade handiness is a great reason to grow your own elderberry shrub !

Agarita

Agarita , also recognize as barbarian currant or desert Charles Hardin Holley ( Mahonia trifoliolata , Zones 7–9 ) , is a delicious , albeit burry , evergreen plant shrub . acquire to about 3 to 6 substructure in height , agarita has holly - like trifoliolate folio , with each leafage lobe ending in precipitous spines . It has the capacity to constitute thorny thickets and thrive in the droughty Texas Hill Country and in South Texas . Agarita prefer full sun or at least partial shade and does fine in piteous soils , although it necessitate to be well - run out . It requires little piddle and is very drought kind . you may plant it in a forgotten corner and , as long as it is comparatively sunny and not too wet , it will do just ticket . Despite its barbed leaf , agarita has several things going for it . Its grey-headed - park to gray - risque foliation is beautiful and classifiable . The flower , which seem in February or March , are shining yellow and smell powerfully of dear . The olfactory sensation is so solid that I have very often located a plant by smell alone . The yield , which are pocket-sized red berries , appear in May through July and are scrumptiously tart and sweet . I am a fan of eating them from my deal with no further preparations , but many ethnic music flex them into jams , jelly , juices , and even wine . The trick to harvesting these tasty berries is in annul agarita ’s thorns . you’re able to spread a mantle , tarp , or umbrella under the bush and then strike it with a joystick to make the ripe Berry fall . From there , simply gather up your mantle and rain buckets the Berry into a bag or jar . This is another fruit that you wo n’t find sell fresh at local market , so it ’s play to grow on your own .

Fragrant sumac

Fragrant sumach ( Rhus aromatica , Zones 3–9 ) is a recurrent shrub found throughout the Southern Plains in old fields and opened woodwind instrument . It ’s a very sluttish - care plant for a house landscape painting , tolerating full sun or fond tincture and need piffling water . It attain about 3 to 6 feet in tallness and has sheeny trifoliate leaves that turn shadowiness of red and yellow in fall . The yellow catkin flowers are fairly inconspicuous and appear at the backsheesh of branches before leave appear in other spring . Female flower produce cluster of red-faced berry in May . The berries are pasty and overlay in bantam downy hairs . My favourite use of the yield is to make a slenderly sour sumac - ade . Just beak enough berries to fill your glass or mound by about one - fourth , and then fill the rest of the container with tender water . The sour citric acid taste will permeate the crapulence and give it a delightful ruck , much like lemonade .

Each of these Southern Plains species warrants inclusion in gardens and home landscape painting independent of their edible status , but their delicious fruit make them even more playfulness to grow . If you ’re lucky , you may even find some wild specimens at fruit fourth dimension and be able to do some harvest home !

— Karen Beaty is a horticulturalist at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin , Texas .

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Fragrant sumac

Fragrant sumac is decked with sweet and sour red berries in early summer.Photo: Karen Beaty

elderberry shrubs and berries

You’ll find flowers, unripe fruit, and ripe fruit side by side on elderberry shrubs throughout late spring and early summer.Photos: Karen Beaty (left), pxfuel.com (right)

Mustard yellow berries of agarita