Nut Trees And Shrubs for Food Forests: Building Resilient Landscapes with Native Trees & Shrubs
Nut trees and fruit shrubs are the backbone of resilient food forests. Unlike annual crops, these long-lived perennials provide abundant, nutrient-dense harvests year after year while strengthening ecosystems and supporting wildlife. When incorporated into edible landscaping or permaculture design, nut trees and berry producing shrubs help create self-sustaining systems that benefit both people and the planet.
Native Nut Trees
Black Walnut
Juglans nigra - A Nut Tree with Rich Flavor and Value
The black walnut tree is one of the most iconic nut trees in North America, producing highly nutritious nuts rich in omega-3 fatty acids, protein, and essential minerals. While the shells are notoriously tough to crack, the reward is a distinctively rich, earthy flavor prized in baking and cooking. Black walnuts can be stored long-term, adding to their value as a sustainable food source.
In addition to food, black walnut trees provide one of the most sought-after hardwoods in the world. Their straight, dark timber is used for furniture, cabinetry, and specialty wood products, adding long-term economic value to the landscape. Ecologically, walnuts create important canopy structure in a food forest, offering shade that moderates microclimates for understory plants.
It’s true that black walnuts produce juglone, a compound that inhibits the growth of certain plants. However, many species—including currants, elderberries, pawpaws, and hazelnuts—can thrive alongside walnuts, making them excellent companions in a designed ecosystem. With careful planning, the black walnut becomes a keystone species that supports both people and biodiversity for centuries.
Chinese Chestnut
Castanea mollissima - Blight-Resistant Chestnut Tree
The Chinese chestnut tree has become a hero in edible landscaping thanks to its resistance to the blight that devastated American chestnuts. It produces generous crops of large, sweet chestnuts encased in spiny burs, typically ripening in late summer to fall. These nuts are calorie-dense, high in carbohydrates, and versatile—perfect for roasting, grinding into flour, or incorporating into savory and sweet dishes.
Chinese chestnuts are vigorous growers that begin bearing in as little as 5–7 years, making them a relatively quick-yielding canopy tree. Their adaptability to a variety of soils, pest resistance, and drought tolerance make them an ideal species for resilient food forest design. They also contribute heavily to soil health: their leaf litter enriches the forest floor, and their deep roots stabilize soil and increase water infiltration.
By planting Chinese chestnuts, growers are investing in a food source that is both abundant and sustainable. They stand as a reminder that resilience often comes from blending native ecosystems with carefully chosen, well-adapted species.
Osage Orange
Maclura pomifera - Living Fence and Windbreak Tree
The osage orange tree is often underestimated but has a long history of supporting resilient landscapes. Its thorny branches made it a traditional “living fence” long before barbed wire existed, creating dense, impenetrable hedgerows that protected farmland and livestock. Today, osage orange still excels as a windbreak, erosion barrier, and natural boundary within food forests and homesteads.
While its large, bumpy green fruits are not typically eaten, the osage orange is unmatched for the durability of its wood. Incredibly rot-resistant, the wood is prized for fence posts, tool handles, bows, and firewood. Ecologically, its dense branching provides shelter for birds and small animals, adding another layer of habitat diversity to food forests.
By including osage orange, growers add not only functional resilience—through wind protection and living infrastructure—but also cultural and material value to their landscapes.
American Hazelnut
Corylus americana – A Resilient Native Nut Shrub
The American hazelnut is one of the most versatile and resilient nut-bearing plants for food forests. Unlike tall canopy nut trees, hazelnuts grow as multi-stemmed shrubs, making them ideal for hedgerows, understory plantings, or the middle layer of an edible landscape.
Their small, sweet nuts are high in healthy fats and protein, providing a nutrient-dense harvest that can be eaten raw, roasted, or used in baking. Hazelnuts begin bearing within just a few years—much faster than larger nut trees—making them a rewarding choice for home growers and permaculture designers.
Beyond food, American hazelnuts are highly adaptable to different soils, tolerant of pruning, and excellent for erosion control. Their dense growth also provides habitat and cover for birds and small mammals. In a food forest, hazelnuts play a dual role: offering a fast, reliable harvest while contributing to long-term landscape resilience.
Why Plant Nut Trees/sHRUBS in Food Forests?
Nut trees are the foundation of resilient food forests, offering food security, ecological stability, and long-term abundance. Their presence creates structure, shade, and diversity that supports the entire system.
Nutrient-dense harvests – Walnuts, chestnuts, hazelnuts, and other nut trees provide rich sources of protein, healthy fats, and calories that can be stored long-term.
Soil improvement – Deep roots stabilize soil, improve water infiltration, and recycle nutrients from deeper layers.
Wildlife habitat – Nuts and leaf litter support birds, mammals, and insects, increasing biodiversity.
Microclimate creation – Tall nut trees provide shade and wind protection for understory crops, creating layered growing environments.
Long-term resilience – Once established, nut trees can thrive for decades with minimal input, securing food for future generations.
Native Fruiting Shrubs
Silky Dogwood
Cornus amomum – Native Shrub for Wildlife and Soil Health
Though not a nut tree, the silky dogwood is a valuable native shrub that strengthens food forests through its ecological contributions. Its dense root systems stabilize streambanks and wet soils, preventing erosion and improving water quality. Its berries, while more valuable to wildlife than people, feed countless species of songbirds and small mammals.
Silky dogwood thrives in moist areas where nut trees might not, filling ecological niches that keep a food forest balanced. It also provides cover and nesting sites for birds, while its flowers support pollinators in the spring. By planting silky dogwood alongside nut-bearing species, you create a multi-layered forest that is rich in biodiversity and resilient against disturbances.
Black Elderberry
Sambucus canadensis – A Fast-Growing Medicinal Shrub with Abundant Berries
The black elderberry is a vigorous native shrub that can grow quickly into dense thickets, making it excellent for hedgerows, privacy screens, and soil stabilization. Its clusters of fragrant white flowers attract bees, butterflies, and other pollinators, while the late-summer berries ripen into glossy, dark purple fruit. Rich in vitamin C, antioxidants, and flavonoids, elderberries are widely valued for their immune-boosting properties and are commonly used to make syrups, jams, wines, and tinctures.
In a food forest, elderberry shrubs provide not only a reliable annual harvest for humans but also critical food for birds and small mammals. We have a ton planted in our chicken yard, and when ripe, the berries fall to feed the birds. Elderberry’s ability to thrive in a wide range of soils—including wetter areas where trees may struggle—makes them a cornerstone species for resilient landscapes. With proper pruning and management, elderberries can become one of the most productive and multifunctional shrubs in an edible ecosystem.
Beach Plum
Prunus maritima– A Hardy Coastal Fruit Shrub with Tart, Flavorful Plums
The beach plum is a hardy, salt-tolerant shrub native to coastal dunes and sandy soils of the northeastern United States. However it’s thriving here in our fertile soil as well! Its adaptability to harsh, nutrient-poor environments makes it an excellent candidate for erosion control, windbreaks, and resilient edible landscapes in challenging sites. In late summer, beach plum shrubs produce clusters of small, tart plums that range in color from deep purple to bright red.
Though the fruits are more sour than standard plums, they shine when cooked into jams, sauces, jellies, and wines, offering a uniquely regional flavor that has been cherished for generations. I have very fond memories of making beach plum jelly with my grandmother! In addition to feeding people, beach plum fruits provide food for wildlife, while the shrub’s dense growth protects soil and supports pollinators with its early-season blossoms. For food forest designs in sandy or exposed areas, beach plums bring both ecological resilience and delicious seasonal harvests.
Chokecherry
Prunus virginiana – An Adaptable Native Cherry for Food, Wildlife, and Pollinators
The chokecherry is a versatile native shrub or small tree that grows across much of North America, thriving in a wide variety of soils and conditions. In spring, it produces long clusters of fragrant white flowers that draw pollinators in abundance. By midsummer, these give way to strings of small, deep red to nearly black cherries. Though astringent when eaten raw, chokecherries are excellent for processing into syrups, jellies, and wines, offering both flavor and nutrition.
Chokecherry shrubs also provide substantial ecological benefits. Their dense growth habit creates important shelter for birds and small mammals, while their fruit is a staple food source for countless wildlife species. With strong tolerance for drought, cold, and soil variability, chokecherry stands out as a resilient, multifunctional shrub that strengthens the biodiversity and productivity of any food forest.
Why Plant Native Fruit Shrubs?
Fruit shrubs may not tower like nut trees, but they play an equally vital role in the structure and resilience of a food forest. By filling in the understory and edge layers, shrubs create diversity, productivity, and ecological balance that make the whole system stronger.
Reliable harvests – Many fruit shrubs, such as elderberry, chokecherry, and beach plum, begin producing within just a few years. Their smaller size means easier harvesting, and their yields provide a steady supply of fruit for preserves, syrups, wines, and fresh eating.
Wildlife support – Shrubs offer berries for birds, nectar for pollinators, and dense branching that doubles as habitat and nesting sites. This strengthens biodiversity while ensuring natural pest control and ecosystem health.
Site adaptability – Shrubs thrive where larger trees may struggle. Elderberries tolerate wetter soils, beach plums excel in sandy or coastal sites, and chokecherries adapt to a wide range of conditions. This flexibility makes them ideal for “filling the gaps” in diverse landscapes.
Resilience and protection – With their multi-stemmed growth and root systems, fruit shrubs protect soil from erosion, buffer winds, and create microclimates for understory herbs and groundcovers.
In short, planting fruit shrubs is about stacking functions: they feed people, feed wildlife, heal the land, and tie the layers of a food forest together. By integrating shrubs alongside canopy nut trees, you build a more resilient, abundant, and balanced system.
