I Need Your Plants (MOAR FOOD FOREST!)

So, a few churches and other religious spaces are interested in doing food forests on their property in Washington and Oregon. Also one library (so far). I’ll be breaking ground on at least two, probably more, in the fall, as an unpaid volunteer activist. Some of these spaces are rather large. I’ve bought and potted up quite a few trees, but I’m quickly going to run through them. I’ve also collected a few shrubs and some groundcover (mint, lemon balm, strawberries). So if you live in either of these states and have extra plants that you can propagate or buy, I’d be grateful if you would consider donating them. At this point almost anything would be useful. Some thoughts and ideas:

Rootstock. A lot of us have various seedlings that pop up on our land (wild hawthorn, pacific crabapple, plum seedlings, apple seedlings, suckers that can be layered, etc). These would be useful for grafting onto.
Nut trees, including seedlings.
Seeds for starting trees
Things that are easily grown from cuttings (currants, gooseberries, figs, grapes, etc) It’s too late for cuttings this year but please keep this in mind for next year!
Groundcover, including herbs. Lavender and rosemary are easily grown from cuttings, and many others divide well.
Bee trees, especially things like sorrel (sourwood) tree and littleleaf/American linden
Trees in general that you might consider buying/grafting/whatever and donating

If you’re interested in letting me know more about the projects let me know! So far they will be in:

Ashland, Oregon
Shelton, Washington
Longview, Washington (yet to be approved officially, but likely)
Onalaska, Washington
Morton, Washington (possibly)
Probably somewhere in Camas
Possibly the Olympic Peninsula someday

I’ve got a bunch of extra sweet chestnut trees I started from seed that you can have. PM me

I have a ton of the unkillable and tasty Garlic Chives.  I would be happy to send you a box of them.  Also Walking Onion.

Thank you both!!

James-
As discussed earlier, I have many hawthorn seedlings. I also have a quince tree for you.  When you prune the quince (necessary in PNW, but best done in dry weather), plant the cutting and it will grow into a tree, as long as it's planted November to April.  Graft a compatible pear onto it.  It's the #1 dwarfing rootstock for pear.  

I also have many apples that have self-seeded. Most are not yet grafted.  

I agree, October is the good time to plant: 96 F here today. 97 tomorrow.
John S
PDX OR

I'll give it a try John. I know some people locally with well established quince trees. In addition to being rootstock I'll probably let them grow into quince on their own roots. I love how flexible medlar/hawthorn/quince/pear are with grafting!

I can dig up many wild plum seedlings for you.

I'm sure I could spare some for your Camas project  (I live in Camas).  I have all kinds of edibles.

Just remembered. I also have plum seedlings, Euro and Asian. Many edible weeds and some culinary and medicinal herbs too.'
John S
PDX OR

Great subject.
Been working on wildscaping parts of my property also with edibes. Especially round small orchard.
I live south Central Virginia so getting plant to you would be harder. How about some current seeds?
Working, Mints, clovers, camomile and others into my
areas.
Will be following and taking notes for sure.

You might want to reach out to the Native Plant Salvage Foundation. They are based out of Olympia and Lacey. Each winter and early spring they salvage native plants from development sites. I go to those events and get lots of free plants.

Won't help you now but it could be a good way to get free plants come January or February. Good for rootstocks and for native edibles. We have a number that grow great in shade and taste good too!

I also get woody debris at those events for various projects.

If you reach out to them tell them Daron sent you. I work with them a lot.

Tim Lutz wrote:Great subject.
Been working on wildscaping parts of my property also with edibes. Especially round small orchard.
I live south Central Virginia so getting plant to you would be harder. How about some current seeds?
Working, Mints, clovers, camomile and others into my
areas.
Will be following and taking notes for sure.

How far are you from DC? I just met a woman there who is active in food justice and might interested in doing public food forests there

John Suavecito wrote:Just remembered. I also have plum seedlings, Euro and Asian. Many edible weeds and some culinary and medicinal herbs too.'
John S
PDX OR

The plum seedlings would definitely make good rootstock. Do you think if allowed to grow ungrafted they would produce decent fruit? I've heard that stone fruits grow fairly true but I'm hesitant

Dave Miller wrote:I'm sure I could spare some for your Camas project  (I live in Camas).  I have all kinds of edibles.

Camas might become a Bee City. Either way, the city itself is pretty committed to being helpful it seems. There's a bunch of public land set aside that we want to make a food forest. I'm also talking with the United Methodist Church in town to do a food forest there if possible

James Landreth wrote:

John Suavecito wrote:Just remembered. I also have plum seedlings, Euro and Asian. Many edible weeds and some culinary and medicinal herbs too.'
John S
PDX OR

The plum seedlings would definitely make good rootstock. Do you think if allowed to grow ungrafted they would produce decent fruit? I've heard that stone fruits grow fairly true but I'm hesitant

The plums are delicious and producing in my yard.  I have two types of Euros and more than two types of Asian, so depending on size of project, I can provide a few. They also can be grafted upon. Remember, a preposition is a terrible thing to end a sentence with.

John S
PDX OR

Does anyone have things that are easily started from cuttings, that we could propagate from next spring? I'm thinking things like currants, grapes, figs, gooseberry, maybe hazelnuts. Thanks again everyone :)

I have many plants that you could take cuttings from in the fall and they would grow root systems by Spring 2020.
John S
PDX OR

Thanks John! I'm going to be in town Sunday. Are you around? I'd like to see you and walk about your place again

Tyler, the plants came! They're doing well. I put them in pots and will keep them that way until the fall when they get distributed. Thank you!

I also got the chestnuts from Chris :)

So happy!  

Does anyone have shrubs that can be propagated from? I'm thinking about the following, though I'm open to others:

Currants
Gooseberry
Jostaberry
Aronia berry
Goumi berry
Autumn olive
Silverberry
Raspberry
Elderberry

Good seedless grape cuttings (next winter) and kiwi would also be appreciated!

Hi everyone,
Is December or January a good time to dig up your various offerings?

James, I have persimmons dropping now. They are best from seed but I have hundreds that the deer have already "processed". If you can get local seeds they may be better suited for the PNW.

In a few years I should have more, but I am hoping to do something similar with local properties with things that have done well here. This is inspiring.

Remember, a preposition is a terrible thing to end a sentence with.

I remember telling that to my roommate after he asked, "where is the salt at?". He said, "OK where is the salt at dumbass!"