Edible Landscaping: Mail-Order Useful Perennials
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 10.28.08
Fantastic Resource for Unusual Edible Perennials
While it might not get as many hits as posts on scantily clad doom mongers, or sexy sustainable sports cars, permaculture still crops up regularly on the pages of TreeHugger. Basically a design system that models itself on nature, permaculture gardening draws heavily from traditional agricultural methods, and lays a strong emphasis on edible perennials and native plants. From the design services of North Carolina-based Bountiful Backyards, to a short movie about greening the desert, we have tried to cover stories and products that appeal to the permaculturally minded. However, as a permaculture enthusiast myself, I still find it hard to get hold of the kind of diversity of useful plants you need if you’re designing low-input edible gardens – or I did until I discovered Edible Landscaping.
Based in Afton, Virgina, Edible Landscaping is a nursery specializing in productive, disease resistant, edible perennials. Their catalogue is full to the brim with fascinating plants – from the usual grapes, figs, strawberries and raspberries through to kiwis, juneberries, elderberries, edible dogwoods, and something called a chinquapin – a native, shade-tolerant chestnut bush (this one has made my wish list!). The full list of plants is way too long to mention, but suffice to say fruit and nut enthusiasts will find them a great resource. The printed catalogue is well worth getting hold of as it includes a great deal of information on hardiness, climate zones, and shade tolerance – more than is currently available on the company’s website. And from my first experience of ordering from Edible Landscaping, I can hightly recommend them – all plants arrived promptly in excellent condition with full planting and care instructions. Now I’m just planning my next order…
More on Permaculture
Backyard Permaculture in Oregon
Sheet Mulching and More
Bountiful Backyards: Edible Landscape Design
A Permaculture Mini-Movie
Permablitz: Near Instant Permaculture for the Burbs
Great information, thank you for that website! A post that reviews or looks at the strengths and weaknesses of different intro to city farming books would be a great resource.
This site looks amazing! Thanks for the recc!
We were so inspired by the Permaculture Principles as eco-design practitioners we got one of our design colleagues, and permaculture practitioner, here at o2umw.org (Dan Halsey) to put together a class for MCAD's Sustainable Design Certificate program to help designers see first hand how the system would apply to their part of the built world (packaging, product, print), and to help them better understand Nature's design philosophy.
This article in Package Design Magazine, shows a bit about how the principles apply to packaging design. Permaculture Principles / By Daniel Halsey
There is a deeper look at Permaculture's Principles as applied to design in our two upcoming books from Wiley Publishing...
Packaging Sustainability:
Tools, Systems and Strategies for Innovative Package Design
(Dec. 2008)
Sustainable Graphic Design:
Tools, Systems and Strategies for Innovative Print Design
(Spring 2009)