Zone 3 Edible Plant List (Sorted By Forest Garden Layers)

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This list is focused on edible perennials (perennial vegetables) for zone 3 forest gardens. If you live in zone 3, everything from zone 2 will thrive for you too! So you’ll also need to reference the Full Edible Plant List for Zone 2. I will not include plants that tolerate zone 2 temperatures in this post! This list is for plants that grow in zone 3 and above.

The plants you’ll have the most success with in general are native to the cold northern climates. They’ve adapted to tolerate the harsh conditions which make them the easiest to grow. Alongside these zone 3 edible perennials; I suggest doing a search for local native plants that thrive in your area. Identify them, make use of them, and intentionally include them to strengthen your food forest.

Canopy layer: zone 3 edible plant list

The canopy is your protective layer. When selecting hardy trees; keep in mind that this layer will be the most exposed. You’ll want a good mix of zone 3 and zone 2 canopy plants to ensure they survive through any unexpected temperature dips.

If you plan on harvesting wood for use in the coming decades; consider a mix of not only fast-growing trees for quick wood source but a generous number of nitrogen fixers. Nitrogen-fixing plants release their N-filled nodules into the soil upon termination. While you let them grow extensive root systems, propagate and plant new trees from the ones you have. This way, as the decades pass, you can continue to generously feed your soil by terminating the N-fixing trees while also getting a lumber harvest. Win-win!

Propagated canopy trees can be planted near areas where you want to expand your fruit trees. They’ll make great pioneers for protecting and feeding a young understory when you’re ready to expand.

Name	Common name	Primary Purpose – Wildlife habitat, leaf mulch, & timber
Acer saccharum	Sugar maple	Edible sap, wood source, shelter belt: 2nd & 3rd row in
Celtis occidentalis	Hackberry	Edible nutritious fruit
Gleditsia triacanthos	Honey Locust	Nitrogen fixer, edible
Juglans cinerea	Butternut	Endangered, edible nuts, medicinal uses: more info
Morus alba	White mulberry	Edible fruit and leaves
Morus nigra	Black mulberry	Edible fruit and leaves
Pinus flexilis	Limber Pine	Edible nuts
Prunus avium	Sweet cherry or wild cherry	Edible fruit
Quercus macrocarpa	Burr oak / Bur-gambel / Burenglish	Great wood, shelter belt: 3rd row in, edible: more info, medicinal uses: more info
Robinia pseudoacacis	Black Locust	Nitrogen fixer, edible flowers, firewood source,
Gleditsia triacanthos	Honey Locust	Edible fruit, fixes nitrogen, living fence
Tilia americana	American Basswood	Sap, twine-making, edible leaves when young, flowers for tea
Sorbopyrus auricularis	Bollwiller Pear, Shipova	Edible fruit
Tilia cordata	Small Leaved Lime	Sap, edible young leaves, flowers for tea
Betula lenta	Cherry Birch/Black Birch	Wintergreen flavor tea from twigs/bark/sap/young leaves
Sorbus aucuparia	European Mountain Ash	Edible berries, bitter, nutritious, loved by birds
Ginkgo biloba	Ginkgo biloba	Edible and medicinal nuts

Zone 3 Canopy Layer Edible Perennial Plant List: Mature heights are between 30-100ft

TreeSeedMan sells a lot of these trees at his Etsy shop—if you can’t find the ones you want locally, or if you want to learn how to grow things from seed.

Understory layer: zone 3 edible plant list

Don’t forget to check the zone 2 list of the understory layer! Pawpaws are said to be for zone 5, but I found one that is hardy to zone 2! So there are some unique fruits and nut trees you might want to grow that you won’t see below.

Incorporating different heights of canopy trees, understory trees, and shrubs into your forest garden will encourage a variety of birds. Various birds nest at different heights! The more you invite with a welcoming environment, the more pest control will be off your shoulders.

Name	Common name	Primary Purpose – edible fruit and flowers
Nyssa sylvatica	Tupelo	Sour but edible fruit
Prunus americana	American Plum	Edible fruit, large flowers, birds love
Prunus cerasus	Sour cherry	Edible fruit, medicinal
Prunus mandscburica	Manchurian apricot, some apricot varieties	Edible fruit, medicinal, soap
Prunus maritima	beach plum, many varieties	Edible fruit, erosion control
Prunus pumila eastern	dwarf cherry, many varieties	Edible fruit, bees and birds
Malus domestica	Apples, many varieties	Edible fruit
Elaeagnus umbellata	Autumn olives	Edible fruit, medicinal, nitrogen fixer
Malus ‘Prairifire’	Prairiflower Flowering Crabapple	Edible fruit, great for jam!
Crataegus spp.	Hawthorn	Edible fruit, medicinal berries & leaves
Pyrus	Pear trees, many varieties	Edible fruit
Corylus americana x Corylus avellana	Hazelbert	Edible nuts

Zone 3 Understory Layer Edible Perennial Plant List: Mature heights are between 8-30ft

Shrub layer: zone 3 edible plant list

The most unheard-of fruits are from shrubs that grow in our cold climates! These mysterious fruits are highly nutritious thimbles of joy that don’t make the cut for transport to stores!

*A thimbleberry! They are subtly sweet. But smoosh easily. Their “micro” seeds pop as the pink berry feels like melting velvet. Don’t get me started on jam.*

Lucky you, the opportunity to discover and include a mix of highly-nutritious fruit is available!

The fruit you won’t find available anywhere other than your own surroundings. Scour the zone 2 shrub list too!

Name	Common name	Primary Purpose
Amelanchier lamarckii	Apple Serviceberry Lamarkii	Edible fruit, pollinators
Aronia melanocarpa	Black Chokeberry	Edible fruit, extremely nutritious
Empetrum nigrum	Crowberry, Black	Edible fruit, medicinal
Hippophae rhamnoides	Sea Buckthorn	Edible fruit, tea (leaves), highly nutritious, medicinal
Lonicera caerulea var. edulis	Haskap	Edible fruit
Prunus serotina	Black Cherry	Edible fruit, medicinal bark, hardwood
Shepherdia argentia	Silver Buffaloberry	Edible fruit, nitrogen fixer
Vaccinium corymbosum	High Bush Blueberry	Edible fruit
Vaccinium myrtillus	Bilberry, Whortleberry	Edible fruit, medicinal fruit and leaves
Viburnum prunifolium	Stagberry, Black Haw	Edible fruit, medicinal
Ribes uva-crispa	Gooseberry	Edible fruit
Ribes	Currants	Edible fruit
Ribes americanum	American black currant	Edible berries, fast-growing wood, medicinal
Rhus integrifolia	Lemonade berry	Edible fruit, birds
Rhus typhina	Staghorn sumac	Edible berries, fast growing wood, medicinal
Ribes x culvemellii	jostaberry	Edible fruit
Rubus allegheniensis	Allegheny blackberry	Edible berries, medicinal uses
Rubus chemaemorus	cloudberry	Edible berries, leaves for herbal tea
Rubus ideeus	Raspberry	Edible berries, leaves for medicinal tea
Rubus ideeus var. strigosus	American red raspberry	Edible berries, leaves for medicinal tea
Rubus odoratus	Thimbleberry	Edible berries, boil bark for making soap
Rubus x steltercticus	Nagoonberry	Edible berries, teas
Sambucus canadensis	Black Elderberry	Edible fruit, medicinal, nesting habitat
Prunus pumila var. besseyi	Sand cherry	Windbreak, erosion control, edible fruit

Zone 3 Shrub Edible Perennial Plant List

Herbaceous layer: zone 3 edible plant list

Herbs for zone 2 and up.

As you fill the bases of trees and shrubs with scent confusers and pollinator-attracting flowers; balance grows.

Zone 3 offers a variety of medicinal and edible herbs that enhance cooking, and make wonderful teas that don’t taste like paper bags!

Along with forage mushrooms; daylilies, ostrich ferns, asparagus, and hosta shoots will be your sustaining spring vegetables.

We harvest black, grey, then finally blonde morel mushrooms alongside the early spring flush of vegetables.

The herbs for infusions I am sure to collect over the early mornings of summer are mostly from herb leaves and flowers, but also certain shrub leaves and ground cover flowers.

Name	Common name	Primary Purpose
Agastache foeniculum	Anise-Hyssop	Leaves for tea, pollinators
Allium canadense	Canadian Garlic or wild garlic	Edible
Allium cenmm	nodding wild onion	Edible
Allium × proliferum	Egyptian walking onion	Edible
Althaea officinalis	Marsh Mallow	Edible shoots, roots not recommended to eat due to scarcity.
Amorpha canescens	leadplant	Medicinal, fixes nitrogen, insectary, windbreak
Amorpha Iruticosa	false indigo	Windbreak, fixes nitrogen, insectary
Asclepias tuberosa	Pleurisy root	Edible flower, leaf, medicinal uses
Hablitzia tamnoides	Caucasian Mountain Spinach	Edible leaf
Echinacea purpurea	Echinacea, Eastern purple coneflower	Flowers for tea, medicinal
Eleutherococcus senticosus	Siberian Ginseng	Leaves, buds for tea
Glycyrrhiza lepidota	American licorice	Highly medicinal, seasoning
Hemerocallis fulva	Day lily	Edible flowers, shoots, roots
Hesperis matronalis	Sweet Rocket	Edible leaf, seed
Hypericum perforatum	St John’s Wort	Medicinal
Laportaea canadensis	wood nettle	Edible leaf, highly nutritious, shade tolerant, medicinal
Latbyrus japonicus	beach pea	nitrogen-fixing, medicinal, edible seed
Ligusticum canbyl	osha	Edible young leaves, shoots, and stems
Malva moschata	Musk Mallow	Edible leaves
Matteuccia struthiopterls	ostrich fern	Edible “fiddleheads”
Medeola virginiana	Indian Cucumber Root	Edible shoots, roots are not recommended to eat due to scarcity.
Menyanthes trifoliata	Bogbean, Buckbean, Marsh Trefoil	Medicinal
Mertensia maritima	oyster plant	Edible
Podophyllum peltatum var.	Mayapple	Medicinal
Polygonatum biflorum, var. Commutatum	Giant Solomon’s seal, Solomon’s seal	Edible, medicinal
Rheum rhabarbarum	Rhubarb	Edible stalk, nutrient accumulator, mulch
Rumex acetosa	Garden Sorrel	Edible leaf, dynamic accumulator, good fruit tree companion
Symphytum officinale var.	Comfrey – bocking 4 and bocking 14 cultivars	Medicinal, nutrient accumulator
Typha angustifolia / Typha latifolia	Cattail	Edible root, leaf, shoot, flower
Viola labradorica	Labrador violet	edible leaf
Asparagus officinalis	Asparagus	Edible shoot
Monarda	Bee Balm	Medicinal, edible leaves for tea, pollinator
Levisticum officinale	Lovage	Edible leaves/stalk
Taraxacum	dandelion	Edible, reseeds

Zone 3 Herbaceous Layer Edible Perennial Plant List

Root layer: zone 3 edible plant list

Look here for zone 2 tubers you can grow.

Name	Common name	Primary Purpose
Acorus calamus	Sweet flag	Edible leaf, root
Camassia quamash	Camas	Edible root (sweet and delicious, nutritious)
Geum male	water avens	Edible root
Psoralea esculenta	prairie turnip	Edible root
Armoracia rusticana	Horseradish	Edible root, medinical

Zone 3 Root (tuber) Layer Edible Perennial Plant List

Vining layer: zone 3 edible plant list

Climbing edible plants for zone 2 here.

With a large number of climbing edible perennials, you’ll be able to make the most of your space by including vertical growers.

Name	Common name	Primary Purpose
Lycium barbarum	Goji Berry	Edible super fruit
Actinidia kolomikta	Kiwi, Arctic	Edible fruit, high in vitamins
Vitis riparia	Grape, Riverbank	Edible fruit
Vitis aestivalis var. bicolor	Summer grape	Edible fruit
Wisteria macrostachya	Kentucky wisteria	Edible flowers

Zone 3 Vining Layer Edible Perennial Plant List

Ground cover layer: zone 3 edible plant list

Edible ground cover crops for zone 2 here.

Name	Common name	Primary Purpose
Apios americana	groundnut	Edible nut and root, fixes nitrogen
Claytonia sibirica	Pink purslane	Edible leaf
Mentha × piperita	Peppermint	Edible leaves, tea
Mentha spicata	Spearmint	Edible leaves, tea
Gaultheria procumbens	Wintergreen	Edible

Zone 3 Ground Cover Layer Edible Perennial Plant List

Although I have included all the edible plants I know of that grow down to zone 3, don’t feel limited to edible-only plants for your forest garden! Many ecosystem benefits come from inedible plants too. Save this post as a reference if it might help you remember which plants you have that are edible or medicinal versus others you might include that are not.

This article was originally published on foodforestliving.com. If it is now published on any other site, it was done without permission from the copyright owner.

No liability exists against Food Forest Living or any member of Food Forest Living, nor can they be held responsible for any allergy, illness, or injurious effect that any person or animal may suffer as a result of the information in this catalog or through using any of the plants mentioned by Food Forest Living. Do your own research and due diligence when deciding to consume any edible plants.