Lets me introduce you to Elaeagnus. This is a shrub I would not be without in my garden, yet is not a garden
plant that many of us would seek out. She is a very unassuming shrub but if we look closer really rather
beautiful and very practical and valuable in the garden.
Many of us want gorgeous colourful flowers and impressive trees, maybe even
exquisite alpines. They are so beautiful and often colourful, we would
always want them in a garden.
However, it is easy to overlook the real workhorses of the garden, the
plants that provide us long lasting green background, cover for birds and
green in the depths of winter and a foil for all the other showy
beauties.
Such is the Elaeagnus shrub. She is a bold, beautiful, hardy, vigorous and
easy to care for plant in the garden.
We have an evergreen variety and I love the leaves which are thick and
resilient dark green and an unexpected and striking silver underneath. This
is particularly evident on a windy day when you can see the shrub waving in
the wind and flashes of bright silver even on a dull day.
I was very impressed with Elaeagnus in the drought we had last summer, 40
degree heat and fierce sunshine. She was one of the few plants whose leaves
did not scorch and she survived with no watering at all. She even grew a
good 3 foot this summer!
I love that this shrub can be evergreen if you choose the right variety and
if you choose a dark evergreen that other more showy flowers and roses look
just beautiful against.
She also provides shelter for other plants from the intense sun and the
wind. As she can grow quite dense she also provided shelter from snow and
cold this winter.
All this is great in the garden but the real surprise comes when tiny white
flowers, easy to miss appear on the leaves.
Before you even see the flowers you start to notice a beautiful scent in
the air which smells to me like honey and sweet perfume and if you move
closer and take in the scent of these flowers it is gorgeous.
There are many varieties of Elaeagnus with slightly different needs, some
evergreen, some deciduous, some one green colour, others variagated. Most
have small insignificant flowers that have a gorgeous scent that can fill a
small garden beautifully.
Foliage colours also vary from dark green with silver or white undersides
or silvery foliage, or golden with green. Pollinators seem to like these
little flowers as well.
Many are large shrubs but there are also dwarf varieties for a smaller
garden or a container garden.
Once it becomes a more dense shrub the birds like to hide and seek shelter
in it. I am hoping that now our shrubs are larger, birds will nest in
it.
Care Of Elaeagnus
This is an easy-care vigorous and strong shrub with thick leaves. Most of
the care is in the early years to keep it well watered.
After that apart from pruning to the desired height and width it can take
care of itself. An application of mulch each spring will be beneficial
though I have to say I have not always done this and the shrub is doing very
well.
Ideally, plant a young shrub in autumn into the soil. However especially if
you have a compact variety you can also plant it into a large container in
free draining soil.
Where To Plant
Many Elaeagnus shrubs ideally like to grow in full sun though I have one in
part shade and she is perfectly happy. Check the varieties for what they
most enjoy.
They can grow in a variety of soil types though they do prefer well drained
soil. However, our soil is heavy clay and our plants are growing very
well.
It copes with most weather from drought to cold very well and for me is a
real workhorse of the garden and a plant I do not need to worry
about.
Pruning
Elaeagnus is a strong very vigorous shrub and grows rapidly. Although it
does not need any pruning to be healthy, in a small or average size garden I
would advise pruning at least once a year then it is easily done with good
quality secateurs.
However, if you leave it too long or let it get too big, it will be a
bigger and more arduous task needing more heavy duty tools.
With regular pruning, I find this shrub very easy to prune with secateurs
after flowering as long as you do it from being a young plant. I never let
it get so big that I need shears or a saw to prune it.
It is very vigorous but I find it easy to keep to the height I want and in
our conditions, which are less than perfect for this plant, it stays under
control as much as any of our other shrubs.
Propagation.
Once you have one shrub you can easily make more. I find that cuttings are
very easy to take and grow on well.
We just take 5cm semi ripe cuttings in the summer. These are stems that are
soft at the tip and woodier at the base, growth that is from this year's
current growth.
As with most cuttings simply remove the lower leaves, leave a couple at the
top then inset the cutting gently into a pot of well drained compost.
You can ideally cover loosely with a polythene bag so that the levels of
humidity remain high, but I have found they take very well even without
it.
Keep the soil moist and pot onto individual pots once they make
roots.
A Vigorous Shrub
Please note, this is a very vigorous shrub; in some conditions and
countries, it can become invasive. I have found this to be fine in our
garden and love having this shrub, but do check locally to see if it may be
an issue for your garden. In some countries where conditions are different and more perfect and for some
varieties, it is known as an invasive shrub. So if you are interested do check
for your local conditions and seek advice as you do not want to plant an
invasive shrub in your garden.
If you are concerned that this shrub might be too vigorous or invasive in
your garden growing a compact variety in a sturdy pot might be a good
compromise and that will inhibit its growth as well.
How To Use Elaeagnus In The Garden
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Grow as a very effective screening hedge or train as an elegant single
plant as a standard. This is especially good if you choose an evergreen
variety.
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Ideally, this is a shrub to plant in the soil but if that is not an
option for you try growing it in a smaller pot first and graduating up
to the largest pot you can find in good free draining soil.
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Alternatively, simply buy a compact variety of this shrub which can
then be grown and live its life in a container.
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If you do want to grow it as a hedge allow the leaves to grow right
from the base of the shrub to provide cover and density. Evergreen
varieties are best for a hedge.
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However, if you think the shrub will be too vigorous or invasive, grow it in such a way that you prune all the lower leaves away to
expose the stem to make it more of a standard plant. In this way, you
can control it better and even grow it in a large pot as a specimen
shrub.
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We grow ours in two ways one plant is grown as a hedge to screen off an
area of the garden and the garage and the other is more of a standard
plant next to a holly tree.
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It is also a great shrub to grow near the bins to screen them off and
provides a lovely scent when it flowers, It is good to grow near an area
where you might sit in the autumn/fall so you can enjoy the scent when
it flowers.
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Grow other colourful plants, climbers, perennials or annuals in front
of it so that it provides an effective foil for them.
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If you enjoy flowers in your home the strong cut stems of Elaeagnus are
lovely to use when doing flower arranging and are long lasting for your
foliage arrangement and in a mixed flower and foliage display.
So while we enjoy and bask in the beauty and colour of the gorgeous
flowers and bulbs, we spare a thought and a place in our gardens for the
evergreen workhorses of the garden. These shrubs give us foliage all
winter, cover for wildlife, screening and privacy for us and a perfect
foil for all the pretty climbers, roses, flowers and joyful colours.
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