AMERICAN SILVERBERRY  Berry Fruit Shrub 10 Seeds

NAME:  American Silverberry
OTHER COMMON NAMES:  Wolf Willow / Silverberry / Wolfberry / Wild Olive
SCIENTIFIC NAME:  Elaeagnus Commutata
COLOR:  Yellow Flowers / Silvery Berries / Silvery Foliage
PLANT SEEDS:  Fall / Cold stratify / Outdoors after frost / Indoors weeks before last frost
HARVEST:  Fall
BLOOM TIME:  Late Spring - Early Summer
HARDINESS ZONE:  2 - 6
PLANT HEIGHT:  3 - 12'
PLANT SPACING:  5 - 10'
LIGHT:  Sun - Part Shade
WATER:  Average
The American Silverberry is a super cold hardy deciduous shrub to small tree that is native to the Northern US & Canada. Naturally, they have a more shrub-like stature, but take to pruning well & can be sculpted into a tree with little effort. Silverberry plants are tolerant to a variety of conditions including coastal (salt & wind), drought, sandy or rocky soil, heavy clay soil, & nutritionally poor soil. They can even help to fix the nitrogen in the soil. The thornless Silverberry is fast growing & long lived, & will spread by rhizomes to form colonies without being at all invasive.

The American Silverberry gets its name from its lovely silvery leaves & berries. They begin by flowering from late spring into early summer with clusters of fragrant flowers whose petals are yellow on the inside with silvery backs that lure in bees & butterflies. By fall, the flowers will have turned to oval shaped ½” long silvery berries. Their fruit can be eaten raw or cooked, & is used in jellies, soups, & more. The berries contain vitamins including C, E, & A, as well as some valuable minerals. You can also opt to leave the fruit on the shrub for the birds to enjoy. The Silverberry is food for moose, deer, elk, & small woodland critters too. This native plant has traditional medicinal uses, as well as a variety of other useful purposes including being made into soap, its bark used for weaving, & the berries as decorative beads.