Autumn Olive

Autumn Olive Autumn Olive. An interesting and useful plant for your landscape. It produces small red or orange berries late in the summer that are a great snack right off the bush. They’re high in a number of the same beneficial nutrients found in tomatoes, but in much higher concentrations. Elaeagnus umbellata also fixed nitrogen into the soil, so it can help rebuild soils or be planted near trees that will eventually outgrow it, adding nitrogen to the root zone of the long lived tree. Autumn Olive grows up to about 12 feet tall in most sites. Another very similar fruit is Goumi (Elaeagnus multiflora). There is a fair amount of confusion between the two, especially online.

I took this photo of Autumn Olive in bloom at the end of march in the Skagit Valley.

I took this photo of Autumn Olive in bloom at the end of march in the Skagit Valley.

Caution is advised, as some say both species can become invasive via bird spread seeds. Although I haven’t seen this occur in my experience, nor have I heard this from fellow gardeners in the Pacific Northwest.

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