Elaeagnus umbellata - Japanese Silverberry

Elaeagnus umbellata is also known as the autumn olive due to its resemblance to the famous Mediterranean olive tree. But it is undoubtedly its other name of Japanese silverberry that best characterizes this bush: its autumn fruiting, as decorative as it is delicious, made up of clusters of small red fruits speckled with silver, rather evokes powdered sugar-coated currants. While they share a certain similarity in the appearance of their foliage, these two "olive trees" are extremely different. Our bush loses its leaves in the winter, it has rapid growth, excellent hardiness, and quickly forms a voluminous bush. Its spring flowering, abundant but discreet, reveals a honey scent, perceptible from several metres away. Widely used in field hedges, windbreaks, or fruit-bearing hedges, it is an easy and delicious plant that possesses an indefinable charm.

The umbellate silverberry is a large deciduous bush from the Elaeagnaceae family, native to East Asia, more precisely the Himalayas. It is widespread from Afghanistan to China, Japan, and Korea. It shows rapid growth and forms a branching bush with a wide, dense, but flexible and spreading habit, reaching up to 4m (13.1ft) in height and 3m (9.8ft) in width. Its deciduous foliage persists for quite a while before falling, it is sometimes semi-evergreen (in mild climates) or marcescent, meaning that the dry leaves remain attached to the branches in winter. It is composed of entire, narrow leaves, 4 to 10cm (3.9in) long and 2cm (0.8in) wide, lanceolate, with more or less undulate edges. Their colour is a more or less bluish green, matte on the upper side, the underside is lighter, silvery, and satin. The small cream-white to pale yellow star-shaped flowers, quite insignificant, are gathered in pendulous umbels in the axils of the leaves. They appear, usually in late spring, in May-June depending on the climate. They are delicately scented, very melliferous and nectar-rich, visited by bees. They give way to small round, fleshy fruits or berries, 8mm (0.3in) in diameter, beautiful red punctuated with silver when ripe. They are edible, sweet and tart, particularly rich in vitamins and antioxidants. They can be eaten raw, in compote or jam. 

An Elaeagnus umbellata bush stands out from afar, due to the clarity and silver brightness of its constantly moving foliage. Its vigour, resistance, and great adaptability make it an excellent informal hedge or windbreak plant, capable of growing enthusiastically in difficult conditions, in full wind and in poor soil. It is valuable in a seaside garden or a dry garden, in a windy region. It can be very well used in a mixed hedge, in the company of other beautiful bushes such as Abelia chinensis, Arbutus unedo, Amelanchier ovalis, Buddleia alternifolia argentea, or even Hippophae rhamnoides and Poncirus trifoliata. In spring, its flowering is capable of perfuming a whole area of the garden!