searching for plant like a honeysuckle but with edible fruits

On my property there are many honeysuckle shrubs. The shrubs appear to all be very healthy, grow vigorously, and produce a lot of (inedible) berries. I'm looking for advice for another plant that would mimic the honeysuckles ecological functions but would provide some type of yield for me and my family as well. My idea is to slowly take out some of the honeysuckles and replace them with another shrub that would bear edible fruits. Any ideas? Thanks.

how about honeyberry (Lonicera caerulea)?

michael conway wrote:I'm looking for advice for another plant that would mimic the honeysuckles ecological functions ...

1st, what's your location?
2nd, we have honeysuckle and it's very invasive so you don't really want to mimic that. Between honey suckle and the Japanese barberry almost nothing can grow on the forest floor.
3rd, what else it growing near by?

Eleagnus genus plants would do that, plus fix nitrogen. They're also "invasive", but I don't buy that anyway. Gaia knows what she's doing, they're just filling a niche.

My location is Wilmington New York, located in the northeast of the Adirondack mountains. My property is on the forests edge but where I want to work with is not in full forest. It definitively appears to be an opportunistic species as do the many other plants growing on the property. It is pretty sandy soils but has a lot of water in most areas. Other plants growing around are pine trees, aspen trees, birch trees, maple trees. The only competition the honeysuckle has on the shrub layer of the area is with a few scattered patches of raspberries. Lilacs also seem to do great in the area. The Adirondacks are not a forest known for the most plants with edible fruits so i'm trying to learn what would survive the winters here (zone 4) that could provide me with some food or medicinal yields. I will research the honeyberry and eleagnus genus, thanks.

Isaac Hill wrote:Gaia knows what she's doing, they're just filling a niche.

In general I agree but the honeysuckle / Japanese barberry is really nasty.

I am planting some Eleagnus types (Goumi, Autumn Olive). At least they're productive.

michael conway wrote:The Adirondacks are not a forest known for the most plants with edible fruits so i'm trying to learn what would survive the winters here (zone 4) that could provide me with some food or medicinal yields.

You have tons of options! Hazelnuts, blueberry, small fruit trees... other nut trees...

Cj Verde wrote:

In general I agree but the honeysuckle / Japanese barberry is really nasty.

I am planting some Eleagnus types (Goumi, Autumn Olive). At least they're productive.

Yeah I don't like the honeysuckle either, it's not really useful for anything. I do see autumn olives filling the same niche as them in the wild, and it's a much more useful plant.

Will muscadine and scuppernong grow in your area? Our honeysuckle in the south is more a vine like
grapes than a shrub.

I live in upstate NY on southern border of Adirondacks. I would like to share what I know to work here. We are speaking of edible shrubs here, or small trees. Not the cane fruit, edible ground covers, edible vines or cultivated fruit trees on dwarf rootstock.
Honeyberry already has been mentioned, I have not grown it yet.
Goumi: My favorite shrub is the goumi. It never spread like the invasive relative which ripens in fall. Sweet scarlet goumi already ripened its fruit. They are larger and taste like watermelon fruit roll up with hint of cherry to me.
Currant: We did buy the golden currant from the state agricultural department but the best plant to rival invasive honeysuckle is the clove currant. It smells of cloves and carries on the wind. If you want the scent combined with edible fruit I believe Crandall clove currant is the best match. Goumi is said to smell but it is not strong for me.
Chokecherry: it is a shrub and not a tree. Aronia is a black fruit I do not have experience with but our native red chokecherry is very nice. I believe people confuse it with black cherry which tastes medicinal. Chokecherry ripens around a month earlier. They both turn dark when ripe which helps cause confusion. Chokecherry tasted like a real cherry to me with some variability.
Viburnum species. Although not that tasty, highbush crannberry, nannyberry, and others can be grown.
Highbush blueberry: very pretty in spring and fall. You can get fruit from just one plant. A pollinator creates more fruit.
Pawpaw: it can grow up north, seeds die in winter and the plant needs protection from mice or deer and from the sun till older.
Dogwood: I found silky dogwood growing by a swamp and it is said to be edible although the fruit looked metallic blue so I do not feel comfortable eating it.
Bush cherry: carmine jewel, Romeo, Juliet, Jan, Joel, sandcherries. Canada is working on breeding sweet bush cherries and so are northern states. You need to cage these till older to protect from deer.
Elderberry: we got American from the state agricultural department.

These are the fruity shrubs I have experience with here, and success.

While they can and do turn into a pretty big tree if allowed, the Black Cherry has delicious and plentiful small fruit. They grow thick here in my Kentucky area around woody-field edges and seem to be pretty tough. It's great to see them and redbuds in certain areas thriving instead of honeysuckle.

Since all the ones at my place are wild, and rather bullied by larger forest trees, they are growing more slowly and sideways out into the clearings looking for sun...this seems like a good thing as the fruit is easily reachable!

The birds are on them pretty good and will strip a small tree clean so gotta get them when you can!