Silverberry

Note: For check out, you’ll be asked to select a Pick Up and Return date.  Please select today’s date at the Pick Up date, and Friday, April 10th as the Return Date. Plants will be available for pick up mid-April.  We will email you to confirm pick up date.  Please call Neva at 970-508-0674 for any questions. 

These seedlings are sold as bareroot and are 6-10" tall.  

Elaegnus commutata: Source, Wikipedia 

Elaeagnus commutata, the silverberry, or wolf-willow, is a species of Elaeagnus native to western and boreal North America, from southern Alaska through British Columbia east to Quebec, south to Utah, and across the upper Midwestern United States to South Dakota and western Minnesota.

It typically grows on dry to moist sandy and gravel soils in steppes, meadows or woodland edges.

Description These plants are fast-growing shrubs or small trees growing to 1–4 meters (3+1⁄2–13 ft) tall and 2–5 m width. The leaves are broad lanceolate, 2–7 centimeters (3⁄4–2+3⁄4 in) long, silvery on both sides with dense small white scales. The fragrant flowers are yellow.

Ecology: Silverberry is an important food for wildlife. It provides food for deer and elk. It provides cover and nesting sites for mallards and many passerine birds in North Dakota.

Uses: The species is cultivated as an ornamental plant for its silvery foliage. Both the fruit and seeds of this plant are edible either cooked or raw. The fruit is very astringent unless it is fully ripe. The fruit is a very rich source of vitamins and minerals especially A, C, and E. It is also a fairly good source of essential fatty acids, which are rarely found in fruits.

This plant, like legumes, is able to fix nitrogen. When grown in orchards as a companion plant, it has been documented to increase fruit production by ten percent. Traditionally the fibrous bark of this tree has been twisted to make strong ropes, and woven into clothing and blankets.

According to Arthur W. Bailey, "In rough fescue grasslands, silverberry at 1,000 stems per acre increases forage production."