Speaking of "hardly edible," I just read that the leaves of the lovely monkey puzzle tree evolved as a protection against the brachiosaurus!

Mike, what about sedum? I hear some of them can be eaten raw and other can be stir fried.

David, I hope you're able to get some relief soon!!

Asparagus is not evergreen. The fronds dry at frost and turn a lovely gold, or cruddy tan, depending on fall weather.

David

All sedum are supposedly edible, though yellow flowering species should be avoided based on mild toxicity. http://portlandnursery.com/pla... This site lists the evergreen and semi-evergreen sedum varieties. Leaves can be eaten raw in salads, though some species can be bitter. If you find this to be the case, cooking is said to remove the bitterness. The suggested use is as a stir fry vegetable.

http://www.abebooks.com/NATURE...

Went through this book yesterday and came up with the following for consideration

gelsenium
wild yam
eucalyptus
privet
club moss
cranberry
mistletoe
partridge berry
taro

Wow @MariposaMaid! That's a lot of plants to consider. Remember though, that a plant can have medicinal qualities but not be edible. From your list, Gelsemium, privet, and mistletoe are not edible, and are, in fact, toxic. Wild yam is a die back perennial, and so is taro in our zone (though in the tropics would be evergreen). Club moss is technically edible, though it's regarded more as a famine food. Partridge berry is said to be very tart and often bitter. I wouldn't say it's worth cultivating in a berry garden, but certainly a decent forage. Cranberry and eucalyptus are certainly edible. I've added cranberry to the list, though I'm a bit skeptical about eucalyptus being evergreen outside in the Mid Atlantic. Anyone have any experience with eucalyptus? Please include the species and cultivar where relevant.

Added pine nuts. Many Pinus species are edible. I've read that tea can be made from the needles. I suggest doing a bit of research if you plan on growing Pinus for pine nuts, harvesting from the cones of some species is incredibly difficult.

Judy, you get a gold star for going through a whole book on this!
Sounds like it can be a challenge to identify the zone 6/7 winter-hardy edibles. I wonder what the hunter-gatherers did for food in the colder climes before people got the idea of storing food for the winter? Did they live mostly on fish?
Mike, I'd love to hear more about what is motivating you to do all this research! Are you endeavoring to live off the land? Or is this a more theoretical project?

@Catmint20906, I guess you could say I'd like to live off the land, but I think of the project as being more like a vegetable garden. I'm landscaping the front yard first, considering its the first thing people see, and it really sets the scene of the home. I want a garden that I can cultivate and harvest, but traditional vegetable gardening has two major drawbacks: very short life span, and not nearly as aesthetically pleasing as perennial landscapes. I decided I wanted the best of both worlds: I'll have my perennials and I'll eat'em too! But there's one more thing. My FAVORITE landscapes are the beautiful, stately, glossy evergreen landscapes I often see driving through historic neighborhoods. So, I needed enough evergreen edibles to create an entire landscape.

Edit: I forgot to mention, I've technically already designed the garden. In fact, the majority of the plants are on the back deck now, just waiting for me to prep the beds and plant. It's a lot to do, so I'm chipping away at it. If anyone wants pictures of the plants if be happy to oblige. I left some room to add more plants, so this thread is a way of discovering new additions, as well as sharing what I've already found. Many of these plants are obscure or rare, but have SO many desirable features I just had to share!!

That sounds like quite a project, Mike! Can't wait to see the results! What plants have you chosen so far?

Mike, have you considered Creeping Raspberry?
http://tcpermaculture.blogspot...

Pineapple Guava?

Are you doing 'evergreens' in the back yard. too?

If I leave a black stem taro in the ground it usually overwinters for me. Mostly I dig them up or grow in containers and let go semi dormant on unheated front porch. I grew eucalyptus here for six years but then lost it.

Any 'edible forests' around here?

Viburnum berries are edible, so here is a website devoted to evergreen Viburnums: http://homeguides.sfgate.com/l...

A delicious and pretty salad green that has gone through winter in Salt Lake City (zone 6) for me is Mizuna. It's a type of mustard green but not spicy, and this year I got seeds from Baker Creek of two different colors, chartreuse green, and dark red. Planted them in my daughter's garden in Utah and will see how they're doing next month when I visit again.

One winter it even survived under snow for me, and came up smiling. You can harvest leaves individually, to keep the heads going and looking nice, if you have a row of it. If you only have one or two, you might use it up before winter is over.

Not sure if this qualifies as "evergreen" because I doubt it would last past about 2 years, but anything green you can harvest from your garden in the middle of winter sure is a treasure.

The garden will be in a classic French style: single species plantings, squared beds, brick edging, and light gravel paths throughout.

This is the front yard as it is now:









And this is the design sketch:


The hard line at the top of the hill will be a picket fence.On the left side will be a large hedge of Elaeagnus Ebbingei to help screen and shelter the courtyard at the bottom of the hill. On the left side of the entrance path will be a hedge of Vaccinium Ovatum, and on the right, a hedge of Osmanthus Fragrans. Along the brick wall on the right will be a hedge of Camellia Sinensis, alternating 'Sochi' and 'Rosea' for pink and white flowers. Back to the left along the house under the bay window will be a thicket/hedge of Gaultheria Shallon. The bed in the center right will be Fragaria Vesca 'Reugen'. On the face of the left hill will be a bed of Vaccinium Vitis-Idae 'Red Pearl' and 'Koralle'. The first 'L' bed on the right will be Gaultheria Procumbens and the second was supposed to be Viola Odorata but I have yet to find it in affordable bulk. The small bed on the right hill will be Chamaemelum Nobile 'Flora Pleno'. The large breed on the right hill will be mixed Thymus species: 'Rose Petal', lavender scented, golden lemon, silver English, and 'Orange Balsam'. Last but certainly not least, the feature trees: a weeping yaupon holly (Ilex Vomitoria) somewhere in that strip on the far right, and Camellia Oleifera in the back left, by the corner of the house.

I have all the plants mentioned on the deck, waiting to be planted except the strawberries, chamomile, Silver thyme, and lavender thyme which will arrive in the next few days. If anyone wants pictures let me know!

I'm still considering what I want to plant along that right side and in the space between the fence and the road. I've already added Myrteola Nummularia to plant on the left under the Camellia tree, to drape over the new retaining wall.

@MariposaMaid, I have a bit of an aversion to planting brambles/thorns. I've been hunting for an evergreen Rubus that's thornless, though I haven't been successful. If there was one with thorns that was incredibly tasty and produced well, I'd consider it, but the ones I've found are more ornamental. As for Pineapple Guava, I've seen that it's evergreen and hardy in zone 7, but with the cold the fruits are unlikely to develop.

@greenthumb99 for the link! I'll cross research it later to see if any of them are desirable eating.

that is very cool, Mike!

Mike, the amount of planning is really impressive. When I started gardening, I just started digging and hoped for the best.

What kind of soil do you have? Do you have to amend it much or fix the ph at all? It looks like you have some acid loving plants.

hah! somebody else who loves graph paper and hasn't gone over to a computer design program!

Your front yard will be totally transformed, wow! The single species plantings and clean lines will give it an elegant simplicity. Very nice!

If you need to fill "holes" or add borders, Alpine strawberries are good choices for growing from seed. I've had same-year fruit startign seeds indoors, next-year fruit from winter sowing. There's a site called the Strawberry Store that has lots of varieties to pick from!

I've only bought seeds, not plants but I liked dealign with them. http://strawberryseedstore.com...

All this positive feedback has me motivated to get out there and get some plants in the ground!

@ssgardener, I'm lucky to have silty loam (50silt/40sand/10clay) that's slightly acidic (6-6.5). I'm planning on amending the acid beds with ericaceous compost to improve acidity.

@critterologist, I bought a 120 count plug tray of Alpine Strawberry 'Reugen' from Richter's. Most of them will go in that center bed in the fruit garden, but I'll likely have quite a few extra. Maybe even enough to give some away

Anyone know a good place to get relatively cheap compost/soil conditioner?