For experienced edible gardeners they are not unique. However, your average joe has know idea what these plants are. I was looking for personal experience stories. Like " I was growing honeyberries in Indiana a similar climate to yours and I found the yield was not good and the flavor not special".

I'm not at all sure I share that opinion. Many gardeners on this and other forums discuss growing less common edibles like pawpaws, Cornelian cherry, goumi, autumn olive and aronia. Heck - you can find aronia juice in the grocery store!! And nothing uncommon about Montmorency cherries or plums.

And elderberries, huckleberries, thimble and salmon berries, salal and oregon grape are all native plants and have been widely sampled and eaten by many beginning with the indigenous peoples. With the exception of the hucks, flavor is variable and generally not appealing unless cooked or prepared as a jam or jelly. Or wine.

If you have one blueberry bush (pink lemonade), I would definitely recommend getting a second one to help with cross-pollination. Unless you're neighbors have a bunch of blueberry bushes, I think you'll find that your blueberry bush will produce better with a second pollinator; I started with one blueberry bush, and it did fine, but I have gotten much higher yields since getting it friends. If you're looking for something a little different from the highbush blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum), you could also consider lowbush blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium), since you seem to like variety.

I will say that if you're considering Autumn Olive be sure that you can control it first. Around here it and the related Russian Olive are considered invasive species. If it is listed as invasive for your area as well, you may find it difficult to obtain due to local places not being allowed to sell invasive plants, and you should check rules about bringing it in.

Also, for specific advice, you may want to be more specific than 6A; 6A covers a pretty wide swath that can have different growing conditions. Also, what do you have for expansion space? Soil conditions? What will be next to the new plant(s)?

Thanks my pink lemonade blueberry has been in the ground since last year and it's already huge. I was thinking the same thing. Another plant would help pollination even though it is listed as self pollinating. Thanks for the advice :)

I live on the southside of Chicago by the way.

There aren't any laws against the plants I listed.

I have a good amount of space left in my yard. I would say 500 square feet at least. The area is partially shaded with an Elm tree and mulberry tree. The soil is a fertile clay type soil. I can always add amendments (peat moss, sulfur, coco coir, etc) if I want to plant blueberries there. I'm planning on pruning the trees in the fall or spring so I can get full sun.

50 square feet, as in 5 by 10 feet? The required male/female seaberry alone would take that much space.

Salal and Salmonberry are marginally edible.

Sorry I think I meant 500 square feet. Anyway I haven't measured but it's a large area I have for growing. Space for these plants isn't an issue. However, I'm more worried about having too much shade and thats why I will prune the trees. I know salal and salmonberry are not especially delicious but they can make a good filler plant for the large empty space and can tolerate some shade.

Anymore uncommon edible suggestions?

More people are interested in honey berry/ hascap saying it tastes good.

I think you have little to no need for insecticide or fungicide so far. If you want to keep it that way, avoid growing cherries including the Romance series bush cherries for cherry leaf spot will be an issue. Also, with plum, you will have both diseases ( canker, brown rot, black knot) and pest (plum curculio, Oriental fruit moth ,etc.) to deal with.

I don't mind spraying with copper or neem oil to take care of disease or pest problems. Thanks for your comment. I'll take that into consideration. I'm hoping to have some honeyberries next year :)

Bilberry might also be an interesting addition. I would expect it to have a more 'wild' blueberry flavor.

You have a long list, I don't know most of them. I am new to furit trees. I collected persimmon and honey jar Jujube trees this year. You might like them too.

I just started seriously gardening 2 years ago. I started with grapes and raspberries. I've expanded and I want to focus on fruits I cant buy in stores. Jujube sounds interesting but I'm scared it won't be hardy enough during a bad winter. Persimmon is also good but I think the only ones hardy enough here are American ones which I heard were bitter. Well, it says you're in zone 6a so maybe I'm just being a worry wort. It's weird that I live in the south Chicago suburbs and it's considered zone 6A. I guess Lake Michigan provides a microclimate for the area. I don't know why really only guessing.

Neem oil and copper won't stop cherry leaf spot or plum curculio and Orental fruit moths. It is best you look up Michigan State Extension services about cherry pests and diseases. It will not be as easy as growing things that you are used to. You are lucky that SWD, Spotted- winged dropsophila have not found your berries.

Like the poster above mentioned, trouble free fruit trees are persimmon, jujube and pawpaw. All three have fruit that need acquired taste. Some people like them, some can't stand the taste or texture, or both. Of the three, jujube may be my favorite but it needs full sun esp.in your colder climate. You need to plant varieties that fruit early for your short growing season.

If I decide to go with cherries or plums I'll definitely thoroughly research the diseases which plague these plants. It is much more appealing to have plants which are 'fuss-free'. I have researched paw paw for months and I can't wait to start a tree. Does anyone have experience with the cultivars? I have read conflicting reports. I might start with mango and sunflower. I'll take a closer look at persimmon and jujube now. I had no idea that it would grow well in my climate. Very cool!

Anyone have experience with evergreen huckleberry in zone 6a or 5?

Try physalis alkekengi. I think they would be unique to your taste. Also bilberry would be a cool edible one. (Bog blueberry- vaccinium uliginosum). If you don't care about technicality then how about some conifers that produce 'berries'(they are actually cones) such as some yews, cephalotaxus harringtonia var. drupaceae, or even junipers like the eastern redcedar(juniperus virginiana) if you have the space for that

Evergreen hucks will not survive your winter in the ground. Only hardy to zone 7.

Gardengal48, do you think persimmon and jujube trees would survive in zone 5b?

Thanks for the info. I keep seeing conflicting reports of huckleberry hardiness. Gurneys has their hardiness at zone 5. Other places 6 and so on.

Taxus, and to a lesser extent the Physalis, would need extreme caution to prepare for eating. I wouldn't consider them worth the effort or risk.

Have you considerd Medlar? Since your list is not alphabetical I may have missed it. Chaenomeles also produces a fruit suitable for jelly making.

I'm impressed you intend to harvest that lot. It takes me well over an hour to pick over just my three black currants. And do you have plans for all the fruit? All your currants and gooseberries are common cultivars over here but largely used for cooking and preserving which is time consuming.

The pruning will also take a lot time.

Hi,

For black currants, get

Titaniya

Belarusskaya

minau smuroj

Black down

For gooseberries also get

Hinnomaki yellow and Jeanne, I dont have black velvet, but will try it too

All cherries are good,I have Montmorency, but I read there are some sweeter ones like Balaton, I dont have it, but its on my list.

I heard good things about Evans Bali cherrry. Member Konrad here has great stories and pictures on forum about it, I read with joy:)Mike, may I ask why are you only looking for something rare? You have everything that is not?

Ground cherry Aunt Molly I grow as a veggy type kind of fruit, because its annual,

I've grown it for few years, if you have not mulched space for it, it reseeds, tastes like a pineapple sort of, sweet and yummy. Im looking to get some solanum berries too, some are sweet.

There are some good persimmon crosses between american and asian ones, like Rossiyanka, check them out on Ediblelandscaping, they claim they are hardy to zone 5., I'll be getting these, in my zone 5:)

for plum I researched diseases, , but every state has its own, some very healthy are Mirabelle plums, check them out on Onegreenworld and Raintreenursery, I dont have them, but used to eat them back in Europe, they are good both raw and jams, they are on my list to get. Europian plums do well in clay soil.

Oikotreecrops has plum called WildGooseplum , I got that one, its young , but healthy and tough as nails and should have decent fruit, grows more like a bush.

good luck

I have considered medlar, but I don't think I can meet their light requirements in my part shade plot. Thanks.

I am just wondering since you already have a lot of furits, may be all you need now is to grow some beautiful, fragrant roses......

My wife loves roses but she doesn't want the small children or the pets getting into them. I have a fenced off area where I keep my raspberry bushes, gooseberries, and edible rugosa roses. Which type of rose do you recommend? I am running out of room the fenced off area. Do all roses have thorns?

I was saving that space for a seaberry tree.. But i can always do some more landscaping.

Partial shade? Forget about fruit trees. Without enough sun, they are not productive and may be more disease prone.

It is not just diseases that you need to contend with, pests are even bigger issue. As long as you are aware what the problems you will be facing and prepared, you will be OK.

in my experience, issues may take 3-5 years to show up.

What are some of the good shady shrubs/berries/bushes? I have arctic kiwi, wineberry, honeyberries, currants, gooseberries, musk strawberry, artic raspberry, highbush cranberry, maypop, and rugosa rose, and even some concord grape vines in a semi shade area and they are growing just fine. I was thinking of adding paw paw to that same spot since they need part shade when they are still young.

The saskatoons are also doing well there.

There are many thornless ( or less thorns) roses:

http://www.davidaustinroses.com/us/specific-planting-situations/thornless-roses

http://www.heirloomroses.com/info/care/roses/thornless-roses/

https://www.pinterest.com/explore/thornless-roses/

I will have full sun when i do some tree pruning and cutting. I'm planning on getting a gas or electric pole pruning saw. I might also buy a regular manual pole saw for weeklt/monthly upkeep. My old mulberry trees are extremely vigorous.

If you don't want thorns, forget the Seaberry. Plus the bushes are very large and spreading. And anyway children and pets won't come to much harm from rose bushes. A couple of scratches and they'll steer clear. There's more danger to kids inside your home than amongst the roses.

My Medlar doesn't get a huge amount of sun,

I'm still curious as to how you will process all these fruits. What's the plan for the rose hips, for example?

I was always curious about medlar. Does it really taste like apple sauce when properly ripened? I will use my fruits fresh and juices, jams, and jellies mostly. All the plants are small now, but I hope i'll get good yields in the coming years. Rose hip makes delicious jam. I bought some rose hip jam from Croatia in the ethnic food section of my grocery store and it's amazing. I love rose hip jam on a english muffin with butter. MMM :) I have a big freezer so that helps. I like driving up to Michigan to pick grapes. Sometimes I get 10 5 gallon buckets full of delcious Niagara and Concord grapes for juice, fresh eating, and jelly. This year I might make wine as I've been researching it a lot lately.

My curiosity is stronger than my desire for no thorns (regarding sea berry) . Also, my wife is from Russia and sea berry is something she remembers about her motherland. I guess they are pretty astringent but healthful so she used them in her tea. It also has cosmetic uses, and the juice is supposed to be similar to orange juice. They are worth a try I guess.

Do some research into what goes into cleaning rose hips. I've made rose petal jelly, but rose hip jam has always struck me as even worse than preparing grape jam.