Some fruit and nut guilds

I've been assembling guild plans for my new forest garden (https://permies.com/t/377100/Forest-Garden-Designs)! These are for southeastern Pennsylvania, zone 7a, and I have two soil types on the property. These are preliminary lists right now, but I think it's coming together, so I want to add it to my progress report. (And I'm definitely going to need to learn to propagate my own plants to do this. This sure is a lot of plants!!)

Neutral to slightly alkaline zone:
Apple/crabapple/quince guild:
Garlic chives, walking onions, daffodil (bulb ring)
False indigo and/or New Jersey tea (N2 fixing shrub)
Gooseberry (food, wildlife support)
American vetch (N2 fixing vine) (more with the larger trees, or near the outer deer fence where it can climb)
Anise hyssop (nectary, aromatic, wildlife support)
Russian comfrey (all the things)
Chicory (all the things)
White clover + strawberry (ground covers)
-or-
French sorrell, green and gold, foamflower (to be added later, once it's shady enough) (ground covers)
(There are 9 of these trees in total, so I will have some variations where I swap a couple plants in the list for each other!)

Pawpaw guild:
Garlic chives, walking onions, daffodil (bulb ring)
Goumi (N2 fixing shrub, nurse plant providing shade when the pawpaw is young)
Gooseberry (food, wildlife support)
Russian comfrey
Sage
Anise hyssop
Green and gold, white clover

Persimmon guild:
Garlic chives, walking onions, daffodil (bulb ring)
Goumi and/or false indigo (N2 fixing shrub)
American vetch (N2 fixing vine)
Russian comfrey
Chicory
White clover, french sorrell, foamflower (once shady) (ground covers)

European plum guild:
Garlic chives, walking onions, daffodil (bulb ring)
False indigo
Sundial lupine (N2 fixer, nectary, etc.)
Russian comfrey
Oregano
French sorrell, viola (ground covers)

The above are all pretty similar, and also are in one large superguild, so many of the plants will actually be shared across the borders between the trees.

In the more acidic planting zone:
Hardy fig guild:
Garlic chives, walking onions, daffodil (bulb ring)
Goumi (N2 fixing shrub)
Serviceberry (small tree/large shrub for food, wildlife support)
Currants (food, wildlife support)
Russian comfrey
Anise hyssop
Sundial lupine
Rosemary (maybe; it's wet and the winters are cold, so I'm unsure if it will succeed)
Green and gold, foamflower (shade-tolerant ground covers; figs have more intense canopy coverage)

Looks like a solid start. One thing I noticed with my own guilds is that the ground layer ends up doing most of the heavy lifting in the first few years before the canopy fills in, so it's worth front-loading those. Comfrey and clover establish fast and start building the soil while you wait for the trees. The alkaline vs acidic distinction is smart to separate out early, saves you fighting the soil later.

Joao Winckler wrote:Looks like a solid start. One thing I noticed with my own guilds is that the ground layer ends up doing most of the heavy lifting in the first few years before the canopy fills in, so it's worth front-loading those. Comfrey and clover establish fast and start building the soil while you wait for the trees. The alkaline vs acidic distinction is smart to separate out early, saves you fighting the soil later.

Thanks!! Yes, one of our pasture areas was previously amended with lime, while the other has the more normal acidic soil we find in our area, so I am planning out separate plots with different main plants and guilds for each.

I'm trying to get my head around just how many ground cover and herbal plants I'm going to need for so much space. It's daunting! I don't have lots of experience with propagation, but I think I'm going to need to become much more knowledgeable about it. This is already not a cheap plan (many of the specific varieties of fruit and nut trees that I want for flavor/purpose + disease resistance will need to come from nurseries), especially with the deer fence and other infrastructure I'm planning. But I'd really like to save some money and effort down the line!!

I can't see umbellifera in your list - like fennel and parsley. These are great for beneficial insects, both predators and pollinators, and might be worth considering.
Some of your ground cover will grow well from seed - that is the cheapest method (other than scrounging around for divisions and cuttings). I would start a plant nursery as soon as you can then, you can transplant and propagate to spread the work and financial burden out.

From your list: in my experience these are reasonably easy to propagate (I'm not familiar with some of your plants)

Garlic chives	spread by seed and division of clumps
walking onions	as it says!
daffodil	spread by seed and division of clumps
Gooseberry	takes easily from cuttings
Russian comfrey	spread by division and root cuttings
White clover	infinite spread by runner
strawberry	infinite spread by runner
Sage	cuttings? layering
Oregano	cuttings and division
Currants	takes easily from cuttings
Rosemary	summer cuttings (more difficult in my experience)

Nancy Reading wrote:I can't see umbellifera in your list - like fennel and parsley. These are great for beneficial insects, both predators and pollinators, and might be worth considering.
Some of your ground cover will grow well from seed - that is the cheapest method (other than scrounging around for divisions and cuttings). I would start a plant nursery as soon as you can then, you can transplant and propagate to spread the work and financial burden out.

From your list: in my experience these are reasonably easy to propagate (I'm not familiar with some of your plants)

Garlic chives	spread by seed and division of clumps
walking onions	as it says!
daffodil	spread by seed and division of clumps
Gooseberry	takes easily from cuttings
Russian comfrey	spread by division and root cuttings
White clover	infinite spread by runner
strawberry	infinite spread by runner
Sage	cuttings? layering
Oregano	cuttings and division
Currants	takes easily from cuttings
Rosemary	summer cuttings (more difficult in my experience)

Thanks!! I didn't list it, but I do plan to sow dill, parsley, and cilantro very widely. The main planted forest garden zones will also be right next to wildflower and insectary meadows that include dill and cilantro. But thanks for the reminder so I write it down!