# A native food forest: the layers and the species

> How a food forest stacks native nut trees over fruit trees and berry bushes, how much room and sun each needs, which need a partner, and what to plant first.

Published 2026-10-28. Tags: What to plant, Planting. By Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/a-native-food-forest/

A native food forest grows edible natives in layers, the way the edge of an eastern woods grows. Pecan, the hickories and black walnut make the canopy, with persimmon and red mulberry among them. Pawpaw, serviceberry, the wild plums and hazelnut fill the middle layer beneath them. Elderberry, chokeberry, the blueberries and the currants make the shrub layer. Wild grapes climb as the vines, and low blueberries and lingonberry carpet the ground. The nut trees bear last, so they go in first.

![Green pawpaw fruits hanging from a slender trunk among large, pale green leaves lit from above in a wild pawpaw patch](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/articles/a-native-food-forest-1-1000.jpg?v=494338f6 "A wild pawpaw patch bearing fruit in the Saline River floodplain of southern Michigan, on September 11, 2021. Mature pawpaws fruit best where they get sun.")
*Photo: Cbarlow, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AWild_pawpaw_patch_with_fruit_in_Michigan.jpg))*

## The layers, and a native for each

A 2021 review of more than 200 food forests describes plantings of three to seven layers of different heights, from trees and shrubs down to the ground cover, mostly of edible perennials. The model is the woods itself. In an eastern forest the canopy stands over 20 feet, and the middle layer of tall shrubs and lower trees reaches up to 20. Herbs, small shrubs and low vines cover the ground.

The tables below give the natives we grow for each woody layer.

### The canopy

The nut trees want full sun and the most room, while persimmon and red mulberry take some shade:

| Plant | Sun | Spacing, feet | Zones | Height, feet |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Northern pecan](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/pecan/index.html.md) | Full sun | 40 | 5–9 | 70–100 |
| [Shagbark hickory](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/shagbark-hickory/index.html.md) | Full sun | About 50 | 4–8 | 60–90 |
| [Black walnut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/black-walnut/index.html.md) | Full sun | 30–60 | 4–9 | 70–100 |
| [American persimmon](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/american-persimmon/index.html.md) | Full sun to part shade | 15–20 | 4–9 | 35–60 |
| [Red mulberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/red-mulberry/index.html.md) | Full sun to shade | About 35 | 4–9 | 35–50 |

Black walnut's roots, husks and leaves release juglone, which kills tomatoes, potatoes, apples and blueberries nearby. Its roots reach 50 to 80 feet from the trunk, so a walnut belongs at the far edge of a food forest or out of it. [What to plant under a black walnut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/juglone-what-to-plant-under-a-black-walnut/index.html.md) sorts the plants that take it from the ones it kills.

### The small trees and tall shrubs

Pawpaw is the shade tree of this layer, and the other three want sun or part shade:

| Plant | Sun | Spacing, feet | Zones | Height, feet |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Pawpaw](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/pawpaw/index.html.md) | Part shade to full sun | 8–10 | 5–9 | 15–30 |
| [Downy serviceberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/downy-serviceberry/index.html.md) | Full sun to part shade | 10 | 4–9 | 15–25 |
| [American plum](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/american-plum/index.html.md) | Full sun to part shade | 15–25 | 3–8 | 15–25 |
| [American hazelnut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/american-hazelnut/index.html.md) | Full sun to part shade | 6–8 | 4–9 | 8–12 |

Young pawpaws need shade for their first two summers, but a pawpaw kept in deep shade grows and bears little:

> "Fruit production will be greatest on mature trees in full sun, while very few fruits will be produced by heavily shaded trees." (Kentucky State University, *Pawpaw FAQ and Contact Information*)

Plum and hazelnut sucker into thickets. A plum's root sprouts come up as much as 10 feet from the parent, so both suit the sunny edge of the planting, where a thicket makes a hedge.

### The shrubs and the ground

The shrubs and the low ground covers take sun or part shade, and box huckleberry takes shade:

| Plant | Sun | Spacing, feet | Zones | Height, feet |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Black elderberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/black-elderberry/index.html.md) | Full sun to part shade | 6–8 | 3–9 | 6–12 |
| [Black chokeberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/black-chokeberry/index.html.md) | Full sun to part shade | 4 | 3–8 | 3–6 |
| [Elliott's blueberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/elliott-blueberry/index.html.md) | Full sun to part shade | 6 | 5–9 | 4–10 |
| [Wild black currant](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/wild-black-currant/index.html.md) | Full sun to part shade | 5 | 3–7 | 3–6 |
| [Clove currant](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/clove-currant/index.html.md) | Full sun to part shade | 6 | 2–7 | 3–10 |
| [Hillside blueberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/hillside-blueberry/index.html.md) | Full sun to part shade | 3 | 5–9 | 1–3 |
| [Lingonberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/lingonberry/index.html.md) | Full sun to part shade | 1–2 | 2–6 | 1–2 |
| [Box huckleberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/box-huckleberry/index.html.md) | Part shade to shade | 2 | 5–8 | 1–2 |

The blueberries, lingonberry and box huckleberry need an acid soil. Currants host white pine blister rust, which kills white pines, so keep them at least 900 feet from any white pine. Several states restrict or ban currants for that reason, among them Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and North Carolina, so check your state's rule first.

The herb layer of an eastern woods has foods of its own, such as mayapple, ramps and wild yams, and food forests grow herbs and vegetables there too. We grow none of these.

### The vines

Wild grapes make the vine layer. [Riverbank grape](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/riverbank-grape/index.html.md) climbs tree trunks into the canopy by its tendrils, grows up to 75 feet long and can kill small trees and shrubs by shading them. [Muscadine](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/muscadine/index.html.md) is the native grape of the South, and in the wild its male and female plants are separate, though some cultivars bear alone. Give a grape a fence, an arbor or a big tree of its own, never a young fruit tree.

![Riverbank grape shoots with toothed, lobed leaves and long curling tendrils reaching upward in bright sun against a dark wall](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/articles/a-native-food-forest-2-1000.jpg?v=fe636c84 "Riverbank grape reaching up on its tendrils in Kitchener, Ontario, on June 11, 2018. The tendrils carry the vine up tree trunks into the canopy.")
*Photo: Ryan Hodnett, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ARiverbank_Grape_(Vitis_riparia)_-_Kitchener%2C_Ontario.jpg))*

## Sun, shade and spacing

Part shade means about 3 to 6 hours of sun a day, and full shade less than 3. The nut trees need full sun, and the fruiting layers bear best in it. Full sun gives persimmon its best fruit and Elliott's blueberry its most, and too much shade leaves a currant spindly.

Pawpaw, red mulberry and box huckleberry take the most shade. Set the canopy trees where their shade will fall on those three, and keep the sunny gaps and edges for the berry bushes and the plums.

A northern pecan grows 40 to 75 feet wide, and it wants 40 feet from the house, other trees and power lines. A yard without that room can make persimmon its canopy, set 15 to 20 feet apart, or serviceberry at 10 feet. Pawpaw goes 8 to 10 feet apart beneath them, and the shrubs 4 to 8 feet apart in the gaps.

## Partners for a crop

Many of these set little or no fruit alone. A colony of suckers from one root is a single [clone](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/glossary/index.html.md#clone), so the partner must be another seedling. The plants sort into five groups:

- **Two from different parents:** pawpaw, American plum, the blueberries, lingonberry, box huckleberry and clove currant.
- **Male and female trees:** American persimmon and most red mulberries. Plant five persimmons for a 94 percent chance of both, and three or more mulberries for a fair chance of fruit.
- **Pollen on the wind:** hazelnut sets no nuts alone, so plant two or more within 50 feet. A northern pecan opens its catkins and its female flowers at different times, so a second tree within 250 feet sets the crop.
- **A second plant for a bigger crop:** shagbark hickory, black walnut and wild black currant.
- **One plant bears alone:** downy serviceberry and black chokeberry.

![Three ripe orange persimmons hanging in a cluster among dark, sunlit leaves on a wild tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/articles/a-native-food-forest-3-1000.jpg?v=1173a4c5 "American persimmons on a wild tree along the Potomac Heritage Trail in Fairfax County, Virginia, on September 22, 2012. Only female persimmon trees bear fruit.")
*Photo: Fritzflohrreynolds, [CC BY-SA 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ADiospyros_virginiana_-_American_Persimmons.jpg))*

The [pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=pawpaw:2,american-persimmon:5,american-plum:2,american-hazelnut:2,pecan:2,black-chokeberry:1) checks the counts for a planting, here the six natives of the orchard set below.

## The Native Edible Orchard as a first planting

Blue Whale Trees sets six of these natives together as the [Native Edible Orchard](https://bluewhaletrees.com/bundles/edible-orchard/index.html.md), 14 saplings in all. The counts follow the partners above: two pawpaws, five persimmons, two plums, two hazelnuts, two pecans and one chokeberry. In layers, the pecans and persimmons are the canopy, pawpaw, plum and hazelnut the middle layer, and chokeberry the shrub layer. Together they are hardy in zones 5 through 8. The set leaves the vines and the ground to add: the blueberries, a currant where the state allows it, and a grape on a fence.

## What to plant first, and the first years

Plant the canopy first, because the nut trees bear last. A northern pecan bears at about ten years and a shagbark hickory after more than a decade, while chokeberry bears in its second or third year. The shrubs fill the sunny gaps and bear while the canopy grows.

On bare or eroding ground the ground cover can come first. A Pennsylvania farm turning corn ground into a food forest sowed perennial grasses and legumes before its trees. Then it planted chestnuts, with pawpaws and other fruit and nut trees mixed in on part of the ground:

> "By layering different trees and shrubs, we're creating diversity that supports soil health, wildlife habitat, and multiple harvests." (Penn State Extension, *Twofold Farm Grows a Food Forest with Conservation in Mind*)

Plant while the plants are dormant, and [cage every young tree and shrub](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md) against deer and rabbits. A tree tube serves a young pawpaw mainly as shade, and it comes off in the third year. Water weekly through the first summer, and a pawpaw through its first two. Mulch with the fallen leaves, since food forests mulch to build soil and hold water. Where the food forest replaces lawn, [turning lawn into a native planting](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/lawn-to-a-native-planting/index.html.md) clears the grass first.

## Where to start

- **The orchard set:** the [Native Edible Orchard](https://bluewhaletrees.com/bundles/edible-orchard/index.html.md) gives the canopy, the middle layer and a shrub in the counts that bear.
- **Plants for your ground:** the [tree finder](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-finder/index.html.md?want=edible) lists the plants we grow with food to eat, narrowed by your zone, sun and soil.
- **When each bears:** [native fruit and nut trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-fruit-and-nut-trees/index.html.md) gives the years to a first crop and the pests each still gets.
- **Every plant to eat:** the [edible list](https://bluewhaletrees.com/shop/edible/index.html.md) holds the trees and shrubs we grow with fruit, nuts or berries.
- **The plan above:** [put the orchard set, two elderberries and two of each blueberry on a request list](https://bluewhaletrees.com/list/#items=pecan:2,american-persimmon:5,pawpaw:2,american-plum:2,american-hazelnut:2,black-chokeberry:1,black-elderberry:2,elliott-blueberry:2,hillside-blueberry:2), keep what suits your ground, and we reply with what is ready and current pricing.

## Common questions

### What are the layers of a food forest?

Three to seven layers by height, from the canopy trees through smaller trees and shrubs to the vines and the plants of the ground. In the East, nut trees, pawpaw, berry bushes, wild grapes and low blueberries fill them with natives.

### What native plants are good for a food forest?

The canopy is pecan, the hickories, black walnut, persimmon and red mulberry. Beneath it grow pawpaw, serviceberry, wild plum, hazelnut, elderberry, chokeberry, blueberries and currants.

### How far apart should food forest trees be?

By each plant's spread: a northern pecan wants 40 feet from other trees, persimmon 15 to 20 feet and pawpaw 8 to 10. The berry shrubs go 4 to 8 feet apart in the sunny gaps.

### Can a food forest grow in shade?

It grows but bears little, since the fruiting layers need sun to crop well. Pawpaw, red mulberry and box huckleberry take the most shade, though pawpaw still fruits best in sun.

## Sources

- [Food forests: Their services and sustainability](https://www.foodsystemsjournal.org/index.php/fsj/article/view/985): Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development (Stefanie Albrecht and Arnim Wiek, 2021), with its full text: evidence from more than 200 food forests, plantings of three to seven layers of different heights including trees, shrubs and ground cover, mostly edible perennials, food forests that produce herbs and vegetables, and mulching to build soil and conserve water.
- [Twofold Farm Grows a Food Forest with Conservation in Mind](https://extension.psu.edu/twofold-farm-grows-a-food-forest-with-conservation-in-mind): Penn State Extension, with *Forest Layers: The Understory*: a ground cover of perennial grasses and legumes sown before the trees on former corn ground, chestnuts with pawpaws and other fruit and nut species mixed in, the quotation on layering, the overstory over 20 feet, the midstory of tall shrubs and lower trees up to 20 feet, the understory of herbs, small shrubs and ground-level vines, and mayapple, ramps and wild yams as foods of the forest herb layer.
- [Pawpaw FAQ and Contact Information](https://www.kysu.edu/academics/college-ahnr/school-of-anr/pawpaw/pawpaw-faq-and-contact-information.php): Kentucky State University: pawpaw growing from full sun to fairly heavy shade, shade for young seedlings, and the quotation on fruit in sun and shade.
- [Vitis riparia](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/vitis-riparia/): NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox, with its page for muscadine: riverbank grape climbing tree trunks into the canopy by tendrils, growing up to 75 feet long and shading out small trees and shrubs, muscadine native to the southern United States, and its separate male and female plants and self-fertile cultivars.
- [Gardening in the shade](https://extension.umn.edu/garden-and-home/yard-and-garden/gardening-in-minnesota/gardening-in-the-shade): University of Minnesota Extension: part shade as about 3 to 6 hours of sunlight and full shade as less than 3.

## Related

- Next step: [Open the tree finder](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-finder/index.html.md?want=edible)
- [Native fruit and nut trees to grow and eat: what each bears, when it starts, and which need a partner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-fruit-and-nut-trees/index.html.md)
- [What to plant under a big tree: native shrubs for shade, and how to plant without hurting the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/what-to-plant-under-a-big-tree/index.html.md)
- [Why a tree flowers but bears no fruit: it may be a male, lack a partner nearby, or be too young](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/why-a-tree-flowers-but-never-fruits/index.html.md)
- [Juglone: which plants a black walnut poisons, how far its reach goes, and what to plant beneath it](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/juglone-what-to-plant-under-a-black-walnut/index.html.md)