Medlaronia Polyculture
This polyculture/guild will provide an early-mid winter harvest of delicious Medlar fruit, highly nutritious Aronia berries, a year round crop of excellent salad onions and the added benefits of mineral accumulation and nitrogen fixation.
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Representation of a mature Medlaronia Polyculture/Guild
This selection of high quality plants are well adapted to a large range of soils and well suited to grow together. Placed correctly and with some tender loving care in the early years of development, you can expect a beautiful community of plants providing nutritious food for decades to come. These plants are well suited to biological/organic cultivation with no synthesised chemicals or fertility inputs required.
The Plants
Mespilus germanica - Fruit Bearing Tree
Aronia melanocarpa - Fruit Bearing Shrub
Symphytum x uplandicum - Mineral accumulator and mulch source.
Allium cepa proliferum - Perennial vegetable and pest repellent.
Trifolium repens - Nitrogen Fixing ground cover.
Medlar - Mespilus germanica ‘Mesten’ is an excellent tree for a stand alone polyculture. The tree is self fertile and does not require cross pollination from other plants. From May to June the flower buds open to display magnificent white flowers that provide a source of nectar to bees. These flowers transform into fruits that ripen from November.
Medlar
Aronia - Aronia melanocarpa is an attractive fruit bearing shrub that grows well in partial shade. The fruits are produced in late summer and ready to eat in early winter. The fruits can be dried to make a herbal tea and used as a flavouring or colourant for beverages or yogurts. The berries have their own unique flavour and are known for their antioxidant properties
Aronia
Tree Onion - Allium cepa proliferum are perennial onions that produce delicious leaves and bulbs. Alliums are generally good companions to plants in the Roseacea family (Medlar and Aronia) accumulating sulphur and producing a fungicidal effect. Furthermore, the strong aroma confuses pests, reducing aphids, leaf hoppers and moth attacks.
Tree Onion
Comfrey - Symphytum x uplandicum ‘Bocking 14’ can provide copious amounts of biomass rich in potassium that makes excellent mulch for the garden. The healing properties of this herb are well renowned, making it an essential first aid plant. The beautiful flowers are much loved by bees.
Comfrey 'Bocking 14'
White Clover - Trifolium repens is a nitrogen fixing low-growing perennial, tolerant of shade. White clover is suited for use in walkways. Once established, it provides long-term cover and is highly attractive to bees when in flower.
White Clover
Plant Needs
Design Idea
View our blog for a suggested design for this plant community, but there are many ways in which these plants can be combined and many more plants that can be used within this polyculture. We encourage our customers and readers to experiment with designs and love to hear from the new homes of our plants and learn how they are establishing in different climes, so please consider posting photos of your polycultures on our facebook page as they develop, and share your design ideas.
Overhead view of a possible planting scheme
Guild Ecology
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