Elaeagnus umbellata Pointilla SweetNSour

Elaeagnus umbellata Pointilla Sweet'N'Sour is an easy-to-grow large bush. It stands out with its abundant and magnificent red fruiting punctuated with white, reminiscent of clusters of currants sprinkled with sugar. Its small fruits bear a pleasantly fruity flavour. They are harvested in autumn. The bush is also known as the Japanese silverberry, autumn olive, or umbellate oleaster, because of its resemblance to the famous Mediterranean tree. Its spring flowering is abundant but discreet. The blooms emit a honey scent that radiates through the garden. Widely used in countryside hedges, windbreaks, or fruit gardens, it is an easy and delicious plant that possesses an indefinable charm.

The umbellate oleaster is a large deciduous bush from the Elaeagnaceae family, native to East Asia, specifically the Himalayas. It is widespread from Afghanistan to China, Japan, and Korea. The 'Pointilla Sweet'N'Sour' cultivar has been selected for the qualities of its fruiting. It has a rapid growth rate and forms a ramified bush, with a wide, flexible and spreading habit, reaching up to 4m (13ft) in height and 3m (10ft) in width. Its deciduous foliage persists for quite some time before falling in autumn. 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 (2 to 4in) long and 2cm (1in) wide. They are lanceolate with undulated edges. The leaves are bluish-green and matte on the upper side, while the underside is lighter, silvery, and satin. The small white-cream to pale-yellow star-shaped flowers gather in pendulous umbels at the axils of the leaves. They usually appear in late spring, in May-June depending on the climate. They are honey-scented and nectar-rich, making them popular with bees. They give way to small rounded fruits or fleshy drupes, 8mm in diameter, with a bright red colour punctuated with white-silver when ripe. They are fragrant and edible, with a sweet and sour taste. The fruits are particularly rich in vitamins and antioxidants. They can be eaten raw, in compotes, or jams. The root system of elaeagnus, like that of plants in the legume family (alfalfa, sainfoin), is perfectly adapted to poor soils, which it helps to enrich.

Elaeagnus umbellata Pointilla Sweet'N'Sour bush is noticeable from afar, due to the brightness and silver shine of its ever-moving foliage. In autumn, it brings the garden to life. Its vigour, resistance, and great adaptability make it an excellent hedge or windbreak plant, capable of growing in difficult conditions, in full wind and in poor soil. It is valuable in a coastal garden or a dry garden, in windy areas. It is ideal in a mixed hedge, alongside other beautiful bushes such as wild rose (Rosa myesii), the strawberry tree, Amelanchier ovalis, hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), and the wayfaring tree (Viburnum lantana), as well as sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) and the hardy orange (Poncirus trifoliata). In spring, its flowering can perfume an entire area of the garden.