Good plants for metro Detroit area?

[Nature_Child]

What are the best, hardiest plants? I'd like to figure out both some decoratives and edibles.

[BillinDetroit]

I live at I-96 & Telegraph.
Flowering Kale is both attractive and incredibly good in colcannon (an Irish dish / soup made with potatoes, soup stock and kale).

Rhubarb is both a perennial and edible (way good as rhubarb pie / rhubarb & strawberry jam)

Most foods are annuals but some, like lettuces, re-seed when the weather gets too hot. (this is called 'bolting' and renders the parent plant bitter and inedible) Try starting fruit (apples, cherries, plums, pears)/ nut trees near the wooded edges of parks. They will get enough light and also look like they 'belong' in the space.

Where are you located? P'haps we could do a planting together?

[Rose Pearl]

Herbs would also be good, though some, like mint, can be invasive. Were you looking to plant in the ground proper, or in abandoned/neglected city planters?