Zanthoxylum simulans

Yes, this is the plant that yields those little nuggets that give Szechuan cuisine its zing. But it's also a highly ornamental large shrub, with lustrous divided leaves and ornamental red berries (i.e., "peppercorns") on female plants in fall. After leaf-fall, the gray spiny-barked stems provide winter interest.  An ideal "edible landscape" plant as well as a first-rate ornamental, it's unaccountably rare in horticulture.  In Zone 5, it often dies back in winter, regrowing vigorously in spring but not bearing fruit.

Full sun to light shade; most soils; 12'x12'; Zone 5

Propagated from seed; deep 3.5-inch pots

Photo: Agnieszka Kwiecień, Nova