Edible Natives
The wild fruit of the Pacific Northwest offers a variety of fresh and delicious flavors. They can be used alone or combined with other fruit for a unique twist in your favorite jam, sauce or baking recipes.
Plant care & info
Include these plants in your ‘edible forest’ or general landscape, and have a bounty that you can both enjoy and share with the birds that visit your garden.
Please remember that native plants, like their non-native cousins, have look-alikes that are inedible-to-toxic. In some cases, only parts of the plants can be eaten. So, even if you’re growing your own, be sure to know the exact plant you’re working with before using them as food.
There are many books and other references and classes to help you learn more about our native edible fruit – check your local book store or library and check out Boskey Dell Natives and the NW Native Plant Journal.Many thanks to Gradey Proctor, who helped with facts and details, and who often includes a class in edible fruits in his native Herbal/Botany class series.
Explore Edible Natives
Wild Rose
Rosa: Wild Rose
Rosehips are well known for their abundance of vitamin C and use in making delicious jam.
Huckleberry
Vaccinium: Huckleberry
Perhaps the best of the native berries. Vaccinium ovatum (Evergreen Huckleberry) and Vaccinium membranaceum (Black Huckleberry) are considered especially tasty.
Serviceberry
Amelanchier Alnifolia: Serviceberry
These tiny berries can be eaten fresh, cooked or dried. This small tree / tall multi-stemmed shrub is also attractive with something of interest every season.
Strawberry
Fragaria: Strawberry
All three native strawberries (Fragaria vesca, Fragaria chiloensis, Fragaria virginiana) are pleasantly edible. Two are parents of today’s garden strawberries.
Salmonberry and Thimbleberry
Rubus: Salmonberry and Thimbleberry
Rubus spectabilis (Salmonberry) and Rubus parviflora (Thimbleberry) vary in flavor depending on the growing site. Both are edible raw and can be made into jams and jellies.
Elderberry
Sambucus nigra ssp cerulea: Elderberry
Both the Blue Elderberry and Red Elderberry are edible and widely used, but cook the fruit before eating (all parts of the plant other than the fruit are highly toxic).
Salal
Gaultheria shallon: Salal
When fully ripe the berries are sweet and are often mixed with other native berries for jellies and jams.
Edible Fruit But Need Sweetening
The following natives have edible fruit but need sweetening or mixing with sweeter fruit:
Viburnum trilobum: American Cranberry Bush
Tart when fresh, high in vitamin C. Tasty when cooked and used like cranberries.
Mahonia aquifolium: Oregon Grape
Berries tend to be tart, so are made into jellies and jams with sweeter berries.
Malus fusca: Western Crabapple
Edible but tart. Raw seeds are considered toxic and should be discarded.
Prunus virginiana: Chokecherry
Edible but tart, these fruits carry a lot of juice and natural pectin and are used to make delicious jellies and pies. Note: Though they are edible and nutritious, the seeds contain small amounts of hydrogen cyanide.
Crataegus douglasii: Black Hawthorne
Edible but with a slightly mealy texture, these berries are also high in pectin, making them a superb thickening agent for homemade jams and jellies.
Find Natives for your garden
We offer a great selection of Northwest Natives from spring through fall. The plants featured are highlighted favorites, but they do not represent ALL of the plants we carry. For a more complete list, see our Northwest Native Plant List.
