Long cones of Norway spruce (Picea abies)

Messy odorous fruits of Ginkgo

Fruit avoidance is on the mind of many property owners when purchasing trees and shrubs for their yard. Many like crabapples, mulberries and Chinese (kousa) dogwoods produce fleshy or pulpy fruits that mess lawns, walkways and stain parked cars. Many, not all, are non-native and foraging birds and other wildlife are not interested in them for their food supply.

Some plants are split into male and female, with the male flowers producing pollen and no fruits. Over the years these species are begun to dominate our yards and gardens. Ginkgo is one such example. Male ginkgoes are favored no fruits and male clones are grafted by nurseries. Ginkgoes produce foul smelling apricot looking fruits. When the ripened fruits fall on sidewalks, the area around them reeks with a terrible smell.

Kousa dogwood (Cornus kousa) is a lovely small flowering tree from China where the orangey-red fruits are consumed by monkeys. Most North Ameriican birds don’t eat them.

Crabapples (Malus spp.) hail from Eastern Europe and Asia. Small fruited forms, 5/8ths inches or less in diameter, are consumed in late fall and winter by many bird species when natural food sources are sparse. Avoid planting large fruited cultivars.

Hackberry or sugarberry (Celtis spp.) drops loads of tiny black berries to litter lawns and walkways.

Mulberry (Morus spp.) produce soft pulpy fruits that stain sidewalks.

Buckeyes (Aesculus spp.), walnuts, (Juglans spp.), oaks (Quercus spp.) are nut producing trees and shrubs.

Sycamores (Platanus spp.) and sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) are the “Gumball Trees” that are a nuisance to foot traffic. Mowers with catch the dry gumball fruits and discharge them through a mower to break windows or dent metal siding.

Ginkgo or maidenhair tree (Ginkgo biloba) – female trees produce messy and odorous apricot-like fruits that will also slicken walkways, making them impassable. Many large urban centers have banned the planting of female ginkgo trees.

Norway spruce (Picea abies) and white pine (Pinus strobus) bear large cones that are litter problems on lawns and gardens.