Last year at Kansas City, I saw a garden in a garden railroad full of miniature vegetables. Very nice, but all made of artificial stuff.

That got me to thinking (dangerous, I admit) about living plants that look like miniature veggies and fruit. I’ve had no luck with thymes, but found that I can grow ornamental strawberries in a berry patch. The leaves look like strawberries as do the tiny flowers. The fruit tastes like spitwads, and it takes about a dozen to put in a teaspoon. I’ve been told that “Alpine Strawberry” actually has tasty fruit, but haven’t found any within 100 miles of Sacramento.

Other small item is dwarf pomagranate. Very small tree, and fruit that’s very small compared to full sized. They’re bright red and the size of ping pong balls. Very cute.

I’m looking for something to look like apple or orange trees, and maybe some corn, maybe wheat, oats, etc. I’d think maybe a grass would look good, if it didn’t need to be mowed all the time.

What have you found that works?

Two Dwarf Cotoneasters, that can be trained to mimic apple treas are:

Cotoneaster Hessei

Cotoneaster microphyllus thymifolius

There are other varieties that work well, too, but those come to mind first. They will thrive in the Sacramento area.

There may even be a cotoneaster with orange fruit. As to your other stuff, corn, wheat, oats, perhaps others will chime in.

We like photos of your successes, and your failures with lessons learned.

These are some good folks to deal with, Mini Forrest in Oregon. They have an on site garden railroad, so they speak our language.

If you are looking for something to mimic grass, try Irish Moss or Scotch Moss

This is mine… it was before a trimming, looks better now…

(http://www.elmassian.com/images/stories/plants/cotoneaster.jpg)

Nice, Greg… ID on that plant?