Alpine berries make an
excellent flower bed.

Landscaping with Fruit Trees and Shrubs

• If you don't have room for full-sized fruit trees, check out the new miniatures and dwarfs now available. Some grow just 4 or 5 feet tall and are perfect for growing in large pots or whiskey barrels.
• Rhubarb is so pretty it's a shame to relegate it to the vegetable garden. Tuck it into the flower bed or border. It's especially nice underplanted with purple-leaved ajuga or another low-growing ground cover.
• Strawberries make an excellent edging plant as well as a good ground cover. Plant them in long rows, one or two plants deep, along the edges of flower beds and borders. Or use them on a sunny slope or any other area where you want a pretty ground cover. They cover themselves with white flowers in spring and the leaves turn a rich russet in fall.
• Blueberry and currant bushes are pretty enough to use as decorative shrubs. Plant a whole hedge of them to assure plenty of fruit.
• Grapevines are beautiful plants. Try growing two of them up over an arbor. When you're not harvesting grapes, you can use the leaves, either green or tinged by autumn color, to decoratively line plates and platters. Top with salads or cheeses.
• Raspberries are expensive to buy at the supermarket, but a snap to grow at home. If you're concerned about having too many all at once, plant the ever-bearing types, which will produce from midsummer to frost. Also, they do well in light to medium shade, so you can plant them in an out-of-the-way corner of the yard.
• Try growing short vining-type vegetables up trellises along the back of a flower border. Melons, cucumbers, and zucchini can all be trained to grow vertically; this means fewer fungal disease problems.