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Wednesday - October 21, 2009

From: Charlottesville, VA
Region: Mid-Atlantic
Topic: Rain Gardens
Title: Edible Plants for a Virginia Rain Garden
Answered by: Dean Garrett

QUESTION:

Can you recommend edible plants that would be appropriate for use in a rain garden? I'm located in Charlottesville, VA, but this can be in general as well.

ANSWER:

There are several edible plants native to your area that should do well in the seasonal poor drainge of a rain garden.

Leaves for teas and seasoning:

Three local Monarda species do well in moist soils: White Bergamot (Monarda clinopodia); Scarlet Beebalm, also known as Red Bergamot or Oswego Tea (Monarda didyma); and Purple Bergamot (Monarda media)
Two species of Mountain Mint: Narrowleaf Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum tenuifolium) and Virginia Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum virginianum)
Lyreleaf Sage (Salvia lyrata)
Spicebush (Lindera benzoin), a shrub
Redbay (Persea borbonia), a small to medium-sized tree

Edible fruit:

Pawpaw (Asimina triloba), a shrub or small tree
Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), a shrub
Red Mulberry (Morus rubra), a small to medium-sized tree
American Red Raspberry (Rubus idaeus), a prickly trailing plant
Southern Dewberry (Rubus trivialis), a prickly trailing plant

Edible roots:

Sunchoke, also known as Jerusalem Artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus), a kind of sunflower

That should get you started. For more information about rain gardens in your state, check out this .pdf file from the Virginia Department of Forestry: Rain Gardens Technical Guide.