More than one Guild, an orchard, or a super guild

If you have one lonely fruit tree, in one small guild, you don't have a lot of diversity. Even a small property can generally handle more than one guild, so think about creating super guilds.

I spoke of pollination earlier, well trees generally  need more than one of it's species to cross pollinate each other to get fruit, thus you'll need to plant two of each tree unless the neighborhood has another tree of the same species. So IF you plant say an apple, and there are no apple trees nearby, you'll have to plant two different kinds of apple trees that bloom at the same time, so that they'll pollinate each other. Better yet to have 3 or 4 different varieties.

But that is kinda boring, do you want just apples? Maybe like me you'll want walnuts as well, but walnuts and apples can't grow near each other, because the Juglone from the walnuts will damage the apple tree or even kill it. Then you need what are called buffer plants, that will protect the apple trees, from the walnut trees. Now you are needing a larger property, as walnut trees are pretty big, buffer trees need to be between them and apple trees with their pollinators are fairly large as well unless they are super dwarfs.

On my property I have 2 black walnut guilds, 2 heartnut guilds, a carpathian walnut guild and a butternut guild. These are in a line on the south of our north woods, all underplanted with shrubs, flowers, and ground covers that we'll talk about in walnut guild posts, and they all secrete Juglone into the surrounding soil, so they need buffer plants between them and the nearby apple trees.

My North superguild not only includes the walnut type trees and the woods of aspen, wild cherry, maple, alder and ash trees, but also a half dozen of my apple trees, which can't be near the walnut trees.

Beteween the walnuts and the apples I have a thick hedge of wild plum, mulberry and hazelnut trees. These are a buffer strip that helps to keep the Juglone from the apple trees. This hedge is underplanted with Jerusalem artichokes and bearded iris, which also act as a buffer for the apple trees. Around the apple trees are planted several types of cherry trees, raspberries, rhubarb, asparagus, chestnut trees, juneberries, servicesberries, hollies, chives, hardy geraniums, and grapes up over arbors.

These plants form a large super guild. All of the plants have formed an area that is extremely productive for humans but also for wildlife and is self fertilizing and nearly self maintaining.

There are other superguilds on my property but this one is a good example having the two types of trees that can't grow together divided by the buffering hedge.