Who uses foraging to look for interesting wild plants in their area to add to their garden?
I’m planning to gather some chokeberries from a hiking trail near me next year. If they grow wild in my area, I figure I won’t need to water them. 
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I live in the woods so I’m always incorporating wild plants into the garden. Last year my favorites were the miners lettuce and the white violet I found. The wild strawberries I planted years ago crossed with my domestic ones giving me large super tasty fragrant ones with varying shades of pink to deep red strawberries.
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This year was good for the yarrow growing in the fields. I harvested a bunch of dried flower heads, making sure to leave some to self seed. I now have two packets I had already bought plus over half a pint jar of saved seed. And still some in a jar that I need to work on more to release the seed from the tiny flowers.
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Those sound like fabulous strawberries. Were the wild ones alpine strawberries? Those are supposed to be shade tolerant. I wonder if your population now would be able to produce more in the shade than strawberries usually can. Could be worth saving some seeds from the current population and sowing them in a shady spot where you don’t have anything currently. 
I don’t think I’ve ever eaten yarrow! What do you use it for?
It’s useful medicinal herb and can be used for a yellow dye. Plus I like the way they look.
Baker Creek has colorful varieties but I don’t know if their hardiness or medicinal quality is different so I just stick with the regular white.
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Oh, cool! Do you dye things?
Yes I’m a sheep farmer and fiber artist. I like natural dyes and natural colored fibers (the fiber is the color of the animal, not just white!).
The wild strawberries are of two different types, meadow and woodland, I am guessing an aplineish form for the meadow, the woodland is more round in shape. The cross does very well in any setting I transplant them to. Sun or shade, more or less moisture… I use them as under story planting in my perennial beds as well as the food forest I am starting.
That sounds awesome! I’m thinking I need to start a strawberry landrace, planting a whole bunch of seeds and see what I get.
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One of my specialties as a professional botanist has always been wildland seed collection so many wildland seeds follow me home especially over the 20 plus years I’ve been a botanist. Sometimes I supplement by buying a few as well because I tend to be pretty focused on work when I am working out in the wildlands. For instance I recently purchased some Phacelia linearis seed from a Washington state native seed supplier because they managed to bring it into cultivation! Even though it is also native here and growing on my garden land just up by a rock outcropping and I rarely show up at precisely the right time. Yet it is potentially a very important bee plant like it’s California relative Phacelia tanacetifolia commonly sold as Bee’s Friend which is absolutely beloved by my bees. Also I consider my pollinator gardens to be a very important part of my plant breeding because supporting native bees and other pollinators means I have a high potential for outcrossing.
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