Tuesday, February 21, 2023

A Review Of The Elaeagnus Shrub In The Garden.

Elaeagnus Shrub


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. 


Elaeagnus Shrub White flower


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. 


Elaeagnus Shrub


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. 


Elaeagnus Shrub


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. 


Elaeagnus Shrub


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

  • 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.
  • 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. 
  • Alternatively, simply buy a compact variety of this shrub which can then be grown and live its life in a container. 
  • 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. 
  • 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. 
  • 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. 
  • 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.
  • Grow other colourful plants, climbers, perennials or annuals in front of it so that it provides an effective foil for them.  
  • 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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7 comments:

  1. What a lovely shrub! I like the little flowers. I have a spot at the corner of my front flower bed that needs a larger "end" piece that would be happy all summer long. I haven't had much luck with anything in that spot. The Elaeagnus shrub might just be the answer since it can tolerate regular pruning.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Elaeagnus really does sound like an often-overlooked garden workhorse! It’s easy to forget that showier plants look best with a simpler background/surroundings as a foil, so that every plant isn’t competing with its neighbors for the viewer’s attention. It’s great that Elaeagnus is also hardy and adaptable! Thank you for another very thorough and helpful gardening review.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Elaeagnus really does sound like an often-overlooked garden workhorse! It’s easy to forget that showier plants look best with a simpler background/surroundings as a foil, so that every plant isn’t competing with its neighbors for the viewer’s attention. It’s great that Elaeagnus is also hardy and adaptable! Thank you for another very thorough and helpful gardening review.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This sounds like a great shrub. I always appreciate all your gardening advice.

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a lovely shrub - and so versatile. I can just picture it as a pretty green background to more showy flowers. Thanks so much for your excellent gardening advice, Raintree Annie.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I LOVED this review. I am trying to decide which shrubs and trees I want to plant here. My list is so long. I'm trying to prioritize my choices by what is best for the birds and animals. I looked up Elaeagnus and one of the varieties (Autumn Olive) is invasive here and I've been working at eliminating most of them here. I will probably keep one alive in the yard and keep the rest from growing up. Thank you for sharing this review.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is a fantastic recommendation for an evergreen shrub - love the little white flowers - and it sounds like it's easy to care for - the fact that it can handle the cold is perfect for us - really love the look of this shrub -

    ReplyDelete

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