Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

A forest food garden sounds wonderful, especially in your mountainous area. We don't have a database that identifies edible plants by state, and I couldn't find one online with a quick search, so I relied on books for the most part: Charles Hudson's The Southeastern Indians, Daniel Moerman's Native American Ethnobotany, and Sally and Andy Wasowski's Gardening With Native Plants of the South, cross-checking relevant plants against the USDA Plants database to determine if they occur in your location.

The plants listed below grow wild either in your county or in neighboring counties. Some do best in sun; some do best in part shade.

Keep in mind that the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center focuses only on wild-growing native plants, few of which have been bred for culinary purposes, so if you're interested in more familiar food garden plants, you might want to consult local growers.

Edible Fruits:

• Eastern Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) – a medium-sized tree with fall fruit
• Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) – a shrub or small tree with early fall fruit
• Muscadine Grape (Vitis rotundifolia) – a wild grapevine with famously delicious, late summer to fall grapes
• American Plum (Prunus americana) - a rather tart wild plum tree, fruiting late summer to fall
  
• Black Cherry (Prunus serotina) – a small, sharp, summer cherry on a beautiful, large tree
• Maypop or Purple Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata) – delicious, early fall passionfruit from this vine
• Blackhaw Viburnum (Viburnum prunifolium) - small, raisin-like fall fruits on a small tree
  

Edible Nuts:

• Chinquapin (Castanea pumila) – a large shrub with fall nuts
  
• American Hazelnut (Corylus americana) – a large shrub with early fall nuts
  
• Pecan (Carya illinoinensis) – a large tree with fall nuts
• Shagbark Hickory (Carya ovata) – a large tree with fall nuts
  
• Butternut (Juglans cinerea) – a large tree with fall nuts
• Eastern Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) – a large tree with fall nuts
  

Edible Berries:

• Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) – a shrub with late fall fruit
  
• Virginia Strawberry (Fragaria virginiana) – a trailing plant with small, tart strawberries in summer
  
• Sawtooth Blackberry (Rubus argutus) – a trailing plant with summer fruit
  
• Southern Dewberry (Rubus trivialis) – a trailing plant with summer fruit
  
• Red Mulberry (Morus rubra) - a small tree with summer fruit
  
• Allegheny Serviceberry (Amelanchier laevis) – a small tree with early summer fruit

Herbs For Seasoning and Teas:

• White Bergamot (Monarda clinopodia) – shin-high perennial with minty leaves
• Scarlet Beebalm (Monarda didyma) - shin-high perennial with minty leaves
  
• Common Sweetleaf (Symplocos tinctoria) – small tree with fragrant leaves for seasoning
• Meadow Garlic (Allium canadense) – stalks used like chives
  
• Nodding Onion (Allium cernuum) – stalks used like chives
  
• Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) – shrub or small tree with twigs and leaves used in teas
• Narrowleaf Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum tenuifolium) – knee-high perennial with fragrant leaves for teas and seasoning
  

Edible Roots:

• Carolina Spring Beauty (Claytonia caroliniana) – edible root on small flower
  
• Groundnut (Apios americana) – vine with edible root if cooked
• Sunchoke/Jerusalem Artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) – edible root of a sunflower
• Wild Sweet Potato (Ipomoea pandurata) – edible root of a morning glory
  
• Sassafras (Sassafras albidum) – shrub or small tree; bark of root used for flavoring
  
• Canadian Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense) – ankle-high forest herb; root used for flavoring

Diospyros virginiana

Castanea pumila

Symplocos tinctoria

Monarda clinopodia

Viburnum rufidulum

Carya ovata

Corylus americana

Vaccinium corymbosum

Amelanchier laevis

Rubus argutus

Allium cernuum

Claytonia caroliniana