I've created a superguild!

in reading in Gaia's garden i realized what i've been creating is what Toby calls a SUPEGUILD..cool..it has a name

on the North by my aspen woods i have 3 kinds of Walnut trees (black, carpathian and butternut)..and I have been creating a walnut guild around them..I've known I needed mulberry trees but i wasn't really sure why, i just knew ineeded them south of the walnuts..but reading his book now i know why, they will be barriers to my apple guild and pear guild.

now i also know that i need to move in some of my Autumn or Russian olives into the barrier area also..(wonderful book)..but I also have a Chestnut guild to the west of this area..and between the pear and chestnut is the apple guild.

I have been doing it right out of INSTICT without even seeing it in print..but when i read the chapter in Gaia's Garden it was like it was a playbook out of my back yard !! This is so exciting.

I had been putting in the right canopy, understory, vines, brambles, perennials and groundcovers that were correct in the listing in the book, the only plants i hadn't gotten into the system yet, were the Mulberry and olives..which I had tried to buy the mulberries over and over with no success (kept gettting substitutions of wild plums as they kept telling me there were crop failures). Well so now i'm workiing on filling the bare ground with perennials and annuals until the fruit trees and bushes grow up..and my seeds of my umbels are sprouting now as well as my cover crops of greens  and coles that I have put in to fill up the bare areas. Now I also am aware that the runners from my strawberries will work in this guild so some of them will be moved when we get a rainy spell (drought here right now). I have learned a lot from Toby but one of the things that please me the most, is that I learned that I already Knew a lot by INTINCT..which was a real bleassing to my EGO

Glad to hear that your intuitive powers have led you in the right direction.. After all permaculture is applied common sense! It sounds like you have some really nice guilds planted, I would love to connect the next time I am in Traverse City/ Leelanau area. Autumn Olives are wonderful and I cannot speak enough for them..the yellow fruited varieties sound very nice too. Goumi(Eleagnus multiflora) would also be a good substitute for your site.. as it serves the same function but ripens earlier in the season and produces larger fruit. Keep up the good work!

i picked up on that from the book and that Goumi is on my list of things to look up on the internet to see where i can find a source to buy them..and maybe i can also find some mulberries.

if anyone out there has mulberry babies and wishes to send me some..i'll pay shipping on them.....or goumi babies too..also looking for a source for the Gelianthus maximulianii sunflowers

i have found a source for the plants i need..sv nursery...good prices too..so i'll be ordering if they are still shipping for this spring

ordered 4 goumi, 1 buffalo berry, 2 paw paw, 2 elderberries, 1 large fruit hawthorn and 1 mtn ash..wow they had great prices but tiny plants..that's ok i'm pretty patient..still haven't found mulberries..still looking !!!

Grimo Nut Nursery in Ontario sells grafted mulberries. I am not sure if they ship to the USA but I think so. Heres the link: http://www.grimonut.com/
If not then you can order mulberries from One Green World out in Oregon. I recently planted 2 cultivars at a clients house..'Weeping' and 'Illinois everbearing'- they were both purchased from OGW..packaged nicely and high quality stock!

i just placed an order for 3 mulberries..small but a good price on them too..i think this will complete my crazy buying nutso transactions for the day.

but also should complete my guilds for my fruit/nut forest garden...now to get them here healthy, planted and most of all GROWING !!

Brenda - any time you get the chance I'd love to see some pictures of your project.

i made a diagram of my garden on a plan a garden site..but i can't figure out how to get it into my files..i may have to print it out and then scan it..bummer

i'll post a link and see if you all can bring it up..
http://planagarden.bhg.com/planagarden/index.php?roomid=123321

if you can, the far right is the walnut trees, but they are actually much farther from the other plants than it shows here..as you really can't separate them very far on this little tiny planner..the other nut trees are on the top or west..and then the row of hazelnuts on the right ..north (left) of the circle garden (which looks square cause i couldn't get the program to make it a circle)..i need a better garden planning program i guess..that will allow me to file it..

photos will follow when the trees are more than just sticks with no leaves on them..

did your source for the goumi's indicate that they are hardy to your zone?  I think I've seen that they are listed to only zone 6 before... could be wrong, though. 

In any event, they are great plants - we are in the thick of the ripening season right now! 

yes the Goumi is hardy in my area, and i'm very excited about getting them, one of my favorite scents that are wafting through the air right now are my (either autumn or russian i'm not sure which) olive trees that are in bloom. Sometimes the fragrance can be almost haunting, you catch the scent and aren't quite sure where it is comning from but it just totally fills the air around you. They just came in bloom last week. I'm not sure how to differentiate between Russian and Autumn..I believe I have bought both and planted but failed to mark, so I'm not sure what is what, but OH do I love the scent. Right now my honeysuckele bushes are all in bloom as well, I have them all over as well.
Both seem to be a tad bit invasive, but that's OK, I LOVE them.

I have one white honeysuckle that gets these witchy things on the ends of the branches..don't know what they are, but if i prune them out the plant blooms and leafs out fine, so i just prune off the uglies and let it be.