• extremely tough, woody shrub
• growns to 12′ tall x5′ wide, 4 x 5m
• silver lanceolate leaves
• bright orange attractive berries in fall
• male and female required for berry production: only female produces berries
• thrives through drought
• thorny
• will grown in a wide variety of soil
• healthy root systen for stabilising soil
• berries medicinal

2025 is the year for berries in my part of the world. It would seem the plentiful storms and accompaning rain has encouraged bumper crops. From wild Huckleberries, Chokecherries, Oregon Grapes to our own gardens of fruit trees it is a wonderful year both for the harvest and for attractive and healthy looking trees.

As I was walking around a local park today, these Buckthorn berries shouted at me! Several of these shrubs have been planted there as they are such hardy and attractive plnats. As far as I know the deer leave them alone as most of these berries were easily accessible to deer. The thorny branches of the plant make them unattractive to deer without berries. I have seen them frequently planted in difficult areas to landscape but the mistake is often made of not planting both male and female. This is essential for pollination of male to female in order to see berries develop. When the berries do develop they are stunning. The grey willow-like leaves also make an attractive back drop for othere shrubs. The plant shows the characteristics of being drought tolerant with the hairy undersides to the leaves and protective thorns.

Sea Buckthorn is native to the coastal areas of Great Britain, other parts of Europe as well as parts of Asia. As a lover of salty alkaline soils it thrives well in alkaline clay type soils. It is also extremely cold hardy.

Sea Buckthorn does have medicinal properties frequently written about in herbals and sources for alternate medicine. The oil rich berries are frequently used in cosmetics and anti- aging lotions and creams.

These photos show the shrub several feet above water where the drainage is still good and its strong roots can help to stabilise the edge. The two photos above show the female plant with it’s bright berries and the photo to the left is the male plant.