Elaeagnus commutata Zempin - Silverberry

Elaeagnus commutata Zempin is a beautiful horticultural selection of the Silverberry, originating from Northern Europe. It quickly forms a voluminous bush, adorned with a grey-silver velvety foliage that plays beautifully with the wind and light. Its abundant but discreet flowering reveals a spicy and heavy scent, perceptible from several metres away. Widely used on the shores of the Baltic Sea for its resistance to intense cold and drought, it is a rare and powerful plant, easy to grow and spectacular. It adapts to any ordinary soil, even dry, sandy or wet, and is highly resistant to wind, heat, and sea spray.

The Silverberry, in Latin Elaeagnus argentea or commutata, is a large deciduous bush related to the Bohemian olive tree, from the Elaeagnaceae family, native to Eastern North America and Canada where it grows spontaneously in wet areas (along rivers) but also on grassy slopes and dry meadows. The 'Zempin' cultivar, from which it originates, is a new form discovered in Scandinavia, with non-thorny branches and very silver foliage. It shows rapid growth and forms a dense bush, with a wide but flexible habit, reaching up to 4m (13 ft 1 in) in height and 3m (9 ft 10 in) in width. The sucker-producing stump spreads laterally. Its deciduous foliage persists for a long time before falling. It is composed of entire, lanceolate leaves, 4 to 8 cm (1.6 to 3.1 in) long, a grey and matte colour on the upper side, with a silver and shiny underside. They are borne by dark-coloured, thornless branches, which are decorative in winter. The small, insignificant flowers, silver on the outside and yellowish on the inside, appear at the axil of the leaves, usually in late spring. They are deliciously scented and nectar-bearing and give way to small fruits, of a beautiful dark brown-silver, edible but dry and mealy.

A bush of Elaeagnus Zempin stands out from afar, due to the brightness and radiance of its ever-moving foliage. Its vigour, resistance, and great adaptability make it an excellent hedge or border plant, capable of stabilizing the sandy soils of dunes. It is valuable in a seaside garden or a dry garden, in windy regions. It can be used in a mixed hedge, in the company of other beautiful shrubs such as Abelia x grandiflora, Arbutus unedo, Amelanchier ovalis, Buddleia alternifolia argentea, or even Cistus laurifolius. Note that its resistance to drought allows it to be cultivated in poor, even rocky soils.