My Food Forest Wish-list

My wish-list for future food forests

Author

Pete Kooshian
December 01, 2025

Over the past couple years (especially this year) I’ve gotten the chance to talk to many of you in person about food forests.

After suggesting a few plants the person may want, or a few options to consider, a question I get frequently is “What are you growing in your food forest?”

So today I thought I’d give a more long-form answer that covers all my bases!

I’ve broken it down into a few categories for you: Fruit trees, fruit shrubs, nuts, herbs, and perennial vegetables, some of which I currently grow, some of which are wish-list items:

As far as nuts go, we actually don’t grow any yet! That’s something I really want to explore soon.

We grow about half of the herbs we enjoy and forage most others so while I love many different herbs, some might stay in the wild.

There are a few perennial vegetables that I grow, and a few I desperately want at some point. We use a lot of vegetables in cooking (especially storage crops) so the more of these we can grow ourselves the better.

Obviously there will be a few garden annuals we always grow (like melons, tomatoes, and squash) but for the future food forest, these are the main staple perennials:

1. Fruit Trees

Fruit in general is very important to my family because we pretty much grow or forage all of the fruit we get with a few exceptions.

Not only do we use fruit for fresh eating, but we sometimes cook with, preserve, dry, and ferment it. We often make fruit vinegar which is a pretty big part of our cooking!

The more we can grow for ourselves, the better!

Here is my wish-list, some of which I have already, some I don’t:

  • Apples - I’d love the following varieties: Roxbury Russet, Golden Russet, Gravenstein, Cherub, Pinker Lady, Chestnut Crab, Dolgo Crab, Whitney Crab, SnoSweet

  • Pears - Chojuro Asian, wild seedlings (I’ve found wild pears I like a lot)

  • Mulberry - I’d like any that is a M. nigra or M. rubra cultivar (or any hybrid) but I’m eyeing the Illinois Everbearing, Kokusa, and Trader as my top contenders.

  • Pawpaw - Allegheny, Susquehanna, Petrichor Passion, KSU Benson

  • Persimmon - Ichi Ki Kei Jiro (Asian), Early Golden (American), Meader (American)

  • Cherry - I really only want to grow bush cherries so: Nankang, Carmine Jewel, Juliet

  • Peach/Nectarine - I honestly only really want to grow seedlings of these that are more well-adapted to my region, however I do have a Saturn Galaxy, and a Cresthaven peach.

  • Plum - Shiro (Asian) Beach Plum seedlings (native American)

  • Apricot - Harcot

  • Cornelian Cherry - Technically a dogwood and not a cherry. I’d love to grow any variety at this point, no preference.

American Persimmon Tree

2. Nut Trees

I mostly want to experiment with baking and using nuts as staple crops. I will have to test them out from local places and see what I think of them before I commit to growing them myself, but I think I would enjoy having nut trees.

  • Hazelnut - Any of the selected seedlings from Forest Ag

  • Chestnut - Any of the selected seedlings from Forest Ag

  • Butternut (White walnut) - Any of the selected seedlings from Forest Ag

Butternut nuts

3. Fruiting Shrubs

  • Elderberry - I have an unknown variety I like, but if I ever get new ones I’ll choose Bob Gordon, Wyldewood, and York most likely.

  • Raspberries - These are hard to go wrong with, but I’d like Double Gold, Munger Black, Jaclyn, or really any other red variety. I currently have an unknown red one and Anne Yellow (highly recommend the latter).

  • Blackberries - Polar White, Prime Ark Freedom, Kiowa, Chester

  • Lingonberry

  • Thimbleberry - As far as I know these aren’t really widely bred but I do have some native ones.

  • Tayberry - A hybrid cane fruit similar to blackberries and raspberries

  • Gooseberry - Hinnonmaki Red, Hinnonmaki Yellow

  • Figs - Yes, you can in fact grow figs successfully in Michigan although it hasn’t been long enough for me to get fruit. I’d like: Ronde De Bordeaux, Olympia, Chicago Hardy, Longe D’Aout, and a few rare unknown varieties I’ve seen online.

  • Goji - I want these mostly for medicinal purposes and for breeding. I’d like Crimson Star, Golden, and Stardust Purple at least.

  • Currant - I have Red Lake, and some kind of white currant but I’d love Champagne and Crandall Clove as well. I just want multiple colors!

  • Honeyberry - I have all of the varieties I want! Aurora, Blizzard, and Beast

  • Goumi - I’d love some of the seedlings I’ve seen in plant breeding circles, but I could be satisfied with Tilamook or Red Gem.

  • Blueberries - While I’d like blueberries, I also know they only grow well in particular soils and microclimates. If they don’t want to grow here I won’t baby them along but I’d like to have: Chandler, Sunshine Blue, and Pink Lemonade

  • Seaberry (Sea Buckthorn) - Another one I grow mostly for medicinal reasons, I’d like the Mary, and the Golden Sweet varieties (of which I have one so far)

  • Grapes - I’m not picky about these, as long as they’re good grapes I’ll take them. On my list is Sommerset, Reliance, and Concord

  • Hardy Kiwi - Jumbo MSU would be my top choice. I just want to have more room for these before I commit!

  • Schisandra - This is another purely medicinal fruit I want. I don’t think there are many readily available cultivars in the States so I’ll take what I can get!

  • Strawberry - I love the kind I already have, but I would love: Alexandria Alpine, Earliglo, Seascape, Sparkle, Honeoye, White Soul Alpine

Golden Raspberries

4. Herbs

Herbs are kind of a cornerstone for us since we use whatever herbs are in season for several different purposes.

Most of these don’t have recommended cultivars necessarily, but I’d like them in my food forests in general:

5. Perennial Vegetables

  • Basswood - While technically a tree, I love the leaves. It’s such a great replacement for other leafy greens.

  • Ramps 

  • Walking Onions - I have had these for a few years and I’ll never go back.

  • Chard

  • Rhubarb

  • Asparagus - I honestly have no excuse for not growing these yet.

  • Skirret - I don’t have this yet, but it is the perennial equivalent of a carrot from Eurasia. I’m quite intrigued by these.

Basswood Leaves

A lot of these are on my list to buy this coming spring!

Hopefully it helps a bit to see what I want to grow, but remember to only grow what you’ll actually use. It does you no good to grow a bunch of stinging nettle if you aren’t going to use it for anything!

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