# Goumi, silverberry and Autumn Olive



## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

I've come across these in posts on other sites. 

Goumi and Autumn Olive were mentioned as tasty fruit. I cannot find a lot of info on Silverberry. 

Do any of you have personal experience with any of these and, if so, what is your opinion of them? The material I read indicates that I could grow all three here.

Ox


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## geo in mi (Nov 14, 2008)

Invasive, invasive, invasive....you'll be sorry, and your neighbors will hate you. As invasive and nearly as pesky as multiflora rose, but without thorns. 

http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/plants/autmnolive.shtml

geo


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## sunflower-n-ks (Aug 7, 2006)

Is this the same "silverberry"? Sounds like it would be a good plant to have.

http://kaskafoods.com/silverberryf.html


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## bee (May 12, 2002)

Oh Lordy, silverberry IS autumn olive!!! I have tons of it here(as well as multiflora rose) and I'll take the olive any day. They both spread by bird dropped seeds. They both smell wonderful in bloom. There are cultivated AOs offered that are supposed to have bigger/better fruit. The "escapes"planted by birds on my land are considered by me to be a survival food source.


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## geo in mi (Nov 14, 2008)

Try Hansen's Bush Cherries instead....
geo


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

Thanks to all of you. I have gotten pretty much the same advice from everyone on Autumn Olive and Silverberry. Goumi is recommended by a fellow very near me, and I will look up Hansen's Bush Cherries to see what I can find. I'd like to have another fruit here; I miss my oranges and tangerines but I'll never live in that zone again. 
Ox


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## Yellow Creek (Nov 15, 2007)

I have two goumis. They are planted where there is shade part of the day on my back lot line. I've had them for about five years and they do not seem to be spreading on their own. I was able to start some by bending a low branch to the ground and covering it with dirt. 

They make a great sauce and jelly. We run them through the Kitchenaid berry screen to get rid of the seeds. They have a large seed for the size of the fruit. Mine ripen in the spring or early summer. The fruit on the bush does not ripen at the same time. Mine ripen over a several week period. 

I was at a place this last fall that had planted what looked like goumi and they were ripening in September. There may be several varieties out there. Mine were purchased from either One Green World or Raintree, can't remember which. 

Goumis make great jelly/sauce, they don't seem to be invasive, the fruit is small with a relatively large seed, Mine ripen in the spring over an extended period.


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## Old Swampgirl (Sep 28, 2008)

Just ate Goumi jelly for the first time last month. It was good. Got it from a lady in Magnolia, Mississippi who said her bush/tree came with her house. I recently saw seeds for it in a new seed catalogue, but can't recall which one.


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## willow_girl (Dec 7, 2002)

I had an autumn olive hedge on my last farm. I never tried eating the fruits, as they were so tiny. The birds sure did like them, though! It was worth having them just to see those pretty cedar waxwings. They also made a very nice hedge. 

I did get a few 'volunteers' that popped up (I presume) from seeds scattered by the birds, but they were weeded out easily enough. 

If it's fruit you're after, I'd recommend Nanking bush cherries -- fast-growing, high-producing, and they make great jam! They're pretty in springtime, too.


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## Mutti (Sep 7, 2002)

We had autumn olive hedges down on driveway in MI for snow fence and they are easily pruned to managable size plus attract so many birds. We try to grow things for the birds/bees/butterflies when we can.

Here in MO we have a fence row between our orchard and the woods...but they are over 12' tall, gnarly and cool! We like them in the wild,too. Never have found them an invasive problem even here in the warmer south. They are fast growing,too if you don't want to wait forever for a hedge. We also use old fashioned lilacs as a hedge; keep them pruned down and planted close together in the rows. My favorite from childhood. DEE


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