Autumn Olive

This looks better when seen from a distance than from close up. An untidy shrub, it always seems to have shriveled leaves clinging to its...Read More base and lower branches making it look unkempt, and it's grudging about releasing them. It always seems to be dropping debris. It's also spiny.

The flowers are fragrant but not showy, as they're more or less the same color as the foliage. Bloom occurs in May (Boston Z6a), when lots of other fragrant plants are in bloom. An allergy to the pollen is common.

This plant doesn't look much like an olive tree. What it and the true olive have in common is an olive-shaped fruit, a silvery cast to the foliage, and a well-deserved reputation for being a "dirty" tree.

I don't consider it a good plant for the home landscape. It was once planted in masses along highways, until it was found to be destructively invasive to natural habitat. Seed are spread into wild areas through birds taking the fruit.

This is banned in three states and a noxious weed in West Virginia. It's considered invasive throughout the eastern US.

This looks so much like the Russian Olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia) that I have a hard time telling them apart.

I planted a variegated Elaeagnus as a shub in my back yard years ago. It grows fast and has interesting leaves and fruit. It reverted bac...Read Morek to the solid green leaves over time. I was good about pruning it for the first years... then I let it go. BIG mistake! It grew like a vine up into a tree next to it maybe 15 feet high. When I finally went to prune it back, I found out it has dangerous backward facing thorny sharp spikes. They gripped the tree limbs as I was trying to pull down the long branches and I got some serious puncture wounds, a very painful job. I will never grow this plant again. If you are looking for a mean perimeter growing fence it might work. They grow fast, wide, thick and tall, and have natural defensive thorns. I'm done with it.

yes it smells good, but if you care about native ecosystems, do NOT grow this!

This is a beatifull plant that resembles the true olive tree. In spring it produces many small white flowers with a strong, frangrant sce...Read Morent.In late summer and early fall, thousands of little red berries ripen with a sweet/tangy taste that is a cross between sour cherries and pomegranate. Many birds love the berries--especially wild turkey. This tough, drought resistent shrub also works as a thick privacy screen in full sun to semi shaded areas. It can also be transplanted very easily.

This is an invasive plant. Please look at the following website: ftp://ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/CT/invasives/autumn_olive.pdf

After the city removed a rather large dead tree from our side yard I noticed shoots at the base of the stump. Those shoots have grown in...Read Moreto an Autumn Olive shrub that is easily 15' tall. I had never seen one of these shrubs and certainly never experienced their intoxicating scent. The perfume fills our block in the springtime.
Only recently did I discover the identity of my shrub. For years I referred to it as The Honey Bush because of the sweet scent. Bees congregate on the shrub when it is in bloom ( late April/early May ). I have never noticed the shrub bearing fruit and there have been no issues with invasiveness. While the shrub has grown to be quite tall it has not multiplied.
I love this shrub for its' fragrance and its' independence. It flourishes when I ignore it :) My only regret is that it doesn't bloom longer. At our home away from home in South Carolina I have discovered the Tea Olive. Very similar scent, not as heady, and it blooms in the fall.

It is hard to believe that some people say that this plant is unattractive, what is not attractive about it? Even tough it is not suppose...Read Mored to be here, it is a very useful plant. It is very gorgeous especially its unique berries with their silver scales. The foliage is also very beautiful. I would love to add it to a flower bed any day. The berries make good pancake topping or to add tart to a smoothie.

I found this shrub to be invading the pine woodlands near my home, displacing native vegetation. It's not very attractive either.

Autumn Olive Elaeagnus umbellata is naturalized in Texas and other States and is considered an invasive plant in Texas.

Autumn Olive was introduced to the US in the 1830's. It's native to Korea, Japan, and China. We used this plant to stabilize and revegeta...Read Morete road banks and also for strip mine reclamation. We also used this plant in our yards to create food and cover for wildlife although we now know better choices were available. We didn't know as much about this plant back then when we subscribed to these practices. Basically, Autumn Olive spreads aggressively and has caused serious ecological damage just as the Russian Olive has done. They fix nitrogen in the soil which disrupts native plant communities that thrive in infertile environments.

This being said, Elaeagnus umbellata is listed on the noxious weed lists of 45 states. Good news is that young seedlings and saplings can be easily pulled by hand after the spring rains come to loosen up the soil. More mature plants are also relatively easy to destroy. I cut them down to about 12" and paint the stump with readily available Round Up concentrate. If the plant suckers up again, it's easy to go back and take another swipe at the stump by taking it down to about 6" and repainting the exposed surface with Round Up concentrate again. Garlon 4 has worked well for me also.

This bush also makes a wonderful hedge and wildlife shelter. It is a natural feeding station and nesting place for many songbirds. In a...Read Moreutumn, the branches are covered with bright red berries which the birds love.

Easy to transplant, very hardy. The fruit are someaht tart when ripe, but quite edible and useful for jam & wine. The fruit contain about...Read More 10 times the lycopene content of tomatoes, and efforts are under way to farm them as a health food. It does spread easily, apparently by seeds carried by birds and other animals who eat the fruit whole, so ranchers don't much care for it. Nitrogen-fixing, thrives in poor soils, alkali and salt tolerant. Seeds collected need to be frozen for a month or more and treated with bird excrement or clorox or muriatic acid to weaken the seed coat.