Fruit Tree Guilds for Your Backyard's Resilience
Last Updated: Apr 13, 2025In nature, plants don’t require inputs of fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides. They have adapted to work together, fill niches, and rely on the strengths of others to offset their own deficiencies.
As a homeowner, you can take advantage of nature’s successes in your backyard with plant guilds— and cut unnecessary long-term costs and work.
Table of Contents
- What is a Guild?
- What Do I Consider Before Starting a Tree Guild?
- What are the Steps to Planting a Fruit Tree Guild?
- What Goes into the Layers of a Fruit Tree Guild?
What Goes into the Layers of a Fruit Tree Guild?
There are plenty of plants to add to the varying layers of a fruit tree guild. Johnathon Engles in Permaculture News has a great list of potential guild plants. Here are a few for your consideration.
1. Centerpiece Plant
The centerpiece plant is a central element of the guild, and in most cases, this is the primary crop you’re hoping to harvest. These are typically fruit and nut trees, but even a tomato plant or berry bush can have a guild around it. Common centerpiece plants include apple, pear, chestnut, and avocado.
2. Secondary Plant
The secondary plants are typical of large guilds or even the beginning of a food forest. These are understory trees that will still receive enough light after the centerpiece has grown to maturity. Remember that some trees, apple, for example, require two trees of a different variety to pollinate. Some common examples of secondary plants are hazelnut, dwarf-apple, citrus, and peach.
3. Nitrogen Fixers
These plants draw nitrogen from the air and use rhizobia bacterium within root nodules to produce nitrogen for the plant. When these plants die back, the stored nitrogen is released to the other plants around it. Common nitrogen fixers include but are certainly not limited to: lupine, clover, alder, and alfalfa.
4. Dynamic Accumulators
These accumulators are plants that pull various beneficial nutrients up from deep in the soil and store them in the plant. When they die back in the fall, they release these nutrients to the surrounding plants. Now, take this layer with a grain of salt, because there isn’t a lot of research into dynamic accumulators. Though some plants are known to hyper accumulate, most information out there is still guesswork. Common accumulators include comfrey, borage, chickweed, and mulberry.
5. Ground Covers
The use of ground cover is highly overlooked in gardening. Nature doesn’t leave soil bare for long, often filling it with quick-growing annual “weeds” that will shade the soil and reduce erosion. By choosing your own ground cover, you are taking the onus off nature and taking advantage of an overlooked space. Common edible ground covers include sweet potato, cucumber, pumpkins, and strawberries.
6. Pest Control and Pollination
Plant a wide variety of flowers in the guild, making sure that there is always at least one group in bloom throughout the growing season. This shows pollinators and beneficial insects that your home is a great place to find food, encouraging them to stay and do what they do best. Some good examples include bee balm, basil, marigolds, and lavender.
Designing a guild to fit your backyard isn’t going to happen overnight. It will take planning and research and, even then, not every combination will work. But follow the trail of successes until you have got your guild established. Then, share your accomplishments and bounty with friends, family, and neighbors!
Tanner Sagouspe
Tanner Sagouspe has a Masters in Environmental Management and is a Permaculture Designer who promotes tackling the climate crisis at home.
