Tree Berries: 7 Berries That Grow on Trees for Big-Time Harvests

Whatever the case may be, plants that produce berries tend to be high-yielding and produce fruits with notable nutritional content. Most of the popular berries we are familiar with, particularly in the garden—strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries—grow on small bushes or canes.

Knowing how bountiful strawberry plants and blackberry brambles can be, it’s no surprise that full-blown berry trees can produce basket upon basket of delicious, edible tree berries. And while many of these tree berries come from trees that aren’t big names on the market, they produce big-time harvests.

With that in mind, it’s worth noting that food-producing trees are great friends to gardens and yards, as well as the people who cultivate and harvest from them. Trees are perennial plants, most producing year after year without much care, and one food tree can usually provide more quantity than dozens of crop plants.

So, if you want to grow tree berries in abundance, it’s worth putting a few of these in the edible landscaping plan.

What you need to Grow Your Own Berry Trees

• Mulberry tree —  fast-growing, heavy berry harvests
• Serviceberry (Juneberry) plant — native, edible, ornamental
• Elderberry plant — productive berry-bearing tree/shrub
• Fruit tree fertilizer — supports establishment and yield

Source: Christopher Nyerges/Youtube

1. Elderberry Trees

Though elderberries aren’t particularly prized for eating fresh off the tree, they are renowned for making first-rate jams, syrups, and wine. They also grow in a wide range of climatic zone, from USDA 3 to USDA 10, covering the entirety of the continental US. They like plenty of moisture. They can be expected to get around 12-15 feet tall and wide.

Source: Forestry and Natural Resources Extension/Youtube

2. Serviceberry Trees

Known by several names—Saskatoon, juneberry, sarvisberry—and coming in several varieties, serviceberries are very agreeable trees, tolerating cold and heat, drought and flood, sun and shade. They provide beautiful flowers in early spring and stunning foliage in fall. And their berries are reminiscent of blueberries.

Source: The Garden Nerd/Youtub

3. Mulberry Trees

Perhaps one of the most prolific producers in the orchard garden, mulberry trees put out incredibly tasty berries, looking something like a mutant large blackberry, that wildlife love as much as humans. It’s usually a race to see who gets them first. Some mulberry trees can get enormous (80 feet), but they all take well to pruning.

Source: The Gardening Channel With James Prigioni/Youtube

4. Goumi Berry Bushes

One of several varieties of the Elaeagnus genus, goumi berries, are beneficial to orchards and gardens in many ways. First and foremost, they are low-maintenance bush (gets up to ten feet tall and equally as wide) that provides sweet and tart berries suggestive of rhubarb in flavor. They are also nitrogen-fixing plants that provide fertility to the plants and trees around them.

Source: Raintree Nursery/Youtube

5. Seaberry Trees

Technically a shrub (it has many trunks), seaberries, or sea-buckthorns grow to an average of about 20 feet tall, sometimes 30 feet, so they are tree-like enough for our purposes. They have extensive root systems and, thus, are great plants for erosion control. The berries are orange-yellow and commonly used as food and medicine.

Source: Springs Preserve/Youtube

6. Strawberry Trees

Though strawberries grow on low-lying herbaceous plants, strawberry trees are lovely evergreens that stay relatively small—15-30 feet tall and wide—and grow from USDA Zone 4 to 9. They are slow growers, but at maturity, the trees produce red-orange drupes (technically not berries, but let’s not get technical) in the fall, when other berries are gone.

Source: Weird Explorer/Youtube

7. Kousa Dogwood Trees

Again, these fruits are more berry in name than botanical distinction, but then again, so are strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries. Kousa dogwoods, often called Korean or Japanese dogwoods, are beautiful ornamental trees with unique flowers in summer and foliage in autumn. They also have a tropical-tasting Kousa berry that is fun to eat.

With this list on the go, the garden will be colorful, bountiful, and filled with satiated birds. No doubt, the pantry will also be bursting with delicious jams, the freezer stocked with berries on the wait, and the oven frequently emitting the aroma of freshly baked pies and berry cobblers. Life will be pretty sweet with tree berries!

Here are some recipes to use your fresh berries in:

• Grilled Pound Cake With Berries [Vegan]
• Whipped Coco Cream Tart With Fresh Berries [Vegan]
• Wheat Berries and Mushroom-Filled Savoy Cabbage Boats With Mustard Miso Sauce [Vegan]
• Saffron Custard Tart With Figs and Blackberries [Vegan]
• Raw Superfood Chocolate Dipped Strawberries
• Skillet Rock Cakes With Goji Berries [Vegan]

Related Content:

• 7 Reasons You Should Plant a Mulberry Tree
• 7 Winter Care Tips for Fruit Trees
• 10 Unconventional Fruit Trees for the Backyard Orchard
• All About Amla Berry and How it Benefits Your Immune System
• Why You Should Plant Fruit Trees in the Yard and How to Do It
• Why You Should Prune Your Fruit Trees Before Spring (and Tips on How to Do It)